Weekly Hip Hop Album Review #4: Binary Star - Masters of the Universe
Welcome back to our weekly hip hop album review thread! For week number #4, we'll be diving into the album "Masters of the Universe" by Binary Star.

About the Album:

• Wikipedia/Discogs Page Link)
• YouTube Link
• Group Members: One Be Lo, Senim Silla
• Release Date: October 31, 2000
• Region: Pontiac, Michigan
• Number of Tracks: 24

Track Listing:

1. Reality Check
2. Conquistadors
3. Solar Powered (Intro)
4. Solar Powered
5. Slang Blade (Intro)
6. Slang Blade
7. The Binary Shuffle (Intro)
8. The Binary Shuffle
9. Fellowship (feat. Athletic Mic League, Decompoze)
10. New Hip Hop
11. Masters Of The Universe
12. Indy 500
13. The Evolution Of Man (feat. Brenda J)
14. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Part 1
15. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Part 2
16. Honest Expression
17. Honest Expression (Outro)
18. Glen Close
19. Wolf Man Jack (Intro)
20. Wolf Man Jack
21. One Man Army
22. K.G.B. (Intro)
23. K.G.B. (feat. Elzhi, J.U.I.C.E., Lacks, Maliki, O Type Star, Texture)
24. Outro

Question Section:

There's a tier list of questions. Focus on answering the Level 101 questions first, but feel free to challenge yourself by answering the questions for the greater Levels.

• Level 101: Basic/Main Questions
• Level 201: Intermediate
• Level 301: Advanced
• Level 401: Expert

(When you answer these, please leave the question's number for the question you are referring to.)

101 Level Review Questions & Prompts (Basic):

(These are the main questions. Focus on these if you're just starting out.)

1. Share your thoughts on the album. What did you like or dislike about it?
2. What are your favorite tracks from the album, and why? Feel free to score each track on a scale from 1 to 10. You could also give a more detailed review of each one.
3. Do you think this album brings something original or unique to hip hop? Describe what it is.

201 Level Discussion Questions (Intermediate):

1. What emotions or feelings does the album evoke for you?
   
2. What do you think about the production? How does it compare to other producers?
   
3. What are some lyrics or wordplay from the album that you have never heard before?
   
4. Any criticisms or aspects you think could have been improved?
   

301 Level Discussion Questions (Advanced):

1. What other albums from that era are comparable to this one? Are there other albums/songs that sound completely or almost completely similar?
   
2. How has your perception of the album evolved with repeated listens?
   
3. How does the album sound as a cohesive project? Does each track flow nicely from one to the next? Would you rearrange the track list? How so?
   
4. What societal, political, or other issues does this album address, if any?
   

401 Level Discussion Questions (Expert):

1. How would you describe the sub-genre of the album? What themes or vibes does it have?
   
2. How does the album's artwork and other packaging contribute to the overall experience?
   
3. Has this album influenced later artists or hip hop's history at large, if at all?
   
4. What is the local legacy of this album where it was released? How did it influence the culture there?
   

Feel free to share your own reviews, thoughts, and opinions on the album in the comments below!
Reminder: Please keep all discussions civil and respectful. Let's focus on sharing our love for hip hop.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Last week's post https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cqj7kc/roundup_ufos_anomaly_network_app_countries_colors/
Archive
Moon phase waxing crescent, three days before half
Mars Right Ascension 0h 37m 40s
.1 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cqjbim/strange_explosions_in_the_sky/ sighting description, no craft, at home, urban area, England the UK 🇬🇧, nighttime, flareup, appeared out of nowhere, explosion, it was like an ourburst, almost like when a coronal mass ejection happens, the explosion went one way, covering half a circle going outwards. , brief duration 1-2 seconds, repeat visitor or second object, two witnesses, Around 5 min later it happened again, this time in another part of the sky., has anyone seen?
.2 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cqjmwu/remote_viewing/ discussion of remote viewing, perplexing success, I’ve been playing a remote viewing app for two weeks and want to know how it is working. I keep getting it right.
.3 https://old.reddit.com/StrangeEarth/comments/1cqj2p8/strange_blue_cloud_over_bostonquincy_last_night/ video, nighttime sky, cloud anomaly, blue 🔵, from car, stationary, urban area, near Boston, quincy Massachusetts
.4 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cqj6la/a_look_into_the_special_tactical_unit_detachment/ original research, documents, "Special Tactical Unit Detachment" , S.T.U.D.S. within Air Force budget requests
.5 https://old.reddit.com/StrangeEarth/comments/1cqktez/immense_beam_of_light_moving_across_the_moon/ sighting description, moon anomaly, contemporaneous report, has anyone seen?, pale white beam almost imperceptibly across the face of the crescent moon, traversing the face of the moon, vertical orientation
.6 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cqltyg/great_basin_experience/ sighting description, Great Basin National Park in eastern Nevada, nighttime, unusual animal activity Western Jay comes out of nowhere and gets mad at my presence. He's sailing around my head, making a racket. Normally I love birds, but this thing is freaking me out. After 5 minutes of this it flies away into the distance., subsequent single light object, ascending from horizon, approach, silent, duration 8 minutes,
.7 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cqm8s5/uap/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, very bright, contemporaneous report, northern lights, moving fast, silent, beetle 🪲 shape,
.8 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cqz2hb/all_the_relevant_uap_updates_from_may_612/ information, state of disclosure USA https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cqd2yw/mexican_and_peruvian_ufo_hearing_roundup_slow/ state of disclosure, Mexico and Peru
.9 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cqv3p4/seen_above_my_house/ photos, nighttime sky, single light object, over the witness home, silent, right angle turn, ascending, west coast of scottish highlands near the Island of Mull, Scotland the UK 🇬🇧, contemporaneous report, similar sighting same day in comments https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1crqcay/unknown_in_sky/ video, single light object, low over treeline, plane for comparison observed, over Oban,Scotland, downvoted to zero
.10 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cqmotu/ufo_in_linekin_bay_boothbay_harbor_maine_847pm/ video, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, northern lights, single light object moving slowly, kept moving in short bursts and pausing in one spot. Then moved again. , moving and stationary and moving, subsequent repeat visitor or second object, two witnesses, over water, linekin Bay, Boothbay harbor Maine https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cr1oml/ufo_linekin_bayeast_boothbay_harbor_maine_5112024/ more video, previous night
.11 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cqmwax/hoping_this_sub_can_identify_what_i_saw_today/ sighting description, daytime, contemporaneous report, central Illinois, Duration 20 seconds, single dark object, possible manta shape, all black and shaped like a bird, moving fast and straight, disappeared into clouds, silent, similar sighting same day in comments
.12 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1cqwpdx/i_worked_on_a_team_that_dealt_with_with_nhi/ sighting description, at work, entity, OP is a university professor currently, previous career in aviation, landed craft, crash retrieval, acorn 🌰 shape, shaped like a dreidel without the handle., The shape was directly informed by its purpose. Every shape is custom molded in a metallic material that would revolutionize the way we travel if we had it. , I'll call it crash recovery because that's what colleagues who are planning to come forward will call it, shootdown, the NHI look like the aliens from close encounters. As far as I know, we never had one alive.,NHI know we can track them, and know how to avoid us.,NHI are linked to their craft in a way that borders on biological. Security rule is people that mention the agency name are killed. It's not a question, and it happened during my time. You'll hear more about them as news about the retaliation Dave comes out., If the US comes out directly and says "We have craft, we have bodies", it means we are on the verge of a serious global conflict like we've never seen before. [GOODPOST], removed by mods, "NORAD leak", https://web.archive.org/web/20240513180353/https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1cqwpdx/i_worked_on_a_team_that_dealt_with_with_nhi/ Archive https://web.archive.org/web/20240514184514/https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1cqwpdx/i_worked_on_a_team_that_dealt_with_with_nhi/ updated archive https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cvs93o/new_paradigm_media_group_claim_that_an_uap/ hopefully unrelated
.13 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cqs35h/what_do_you_think/ photo, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, northern lights, single light object moving fast, wavy trajectory, overhead, 5 second long exposure, Port Coquitlam - about 30 minutes outside of Vancouver Canada 🇨🇦, downvoted to zero
.14 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cr8pcu/what_did_i_catch_in_the_sky/ video, daytime cloudy sky, single light object stationary, just sat up there, duration a couple hours. And then it was gone.., vanished, Newport Oregon, near water pacific ocean, haze, disturbing the air around it, three witnesses , similar sighting in comments
.15 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cr9qj4_strange_lights_moving_back_and_forth_while/ video, nighttime sky, northern lights, Pocatello Idaho, threelights observed, flying in triangle formation, crossing directly in front
.16 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cr1clw/taken_over_a_lake_in_prince_edward_county_ontario/ video, nighttime sky, over water, lake, prince Edward County Ontario Canada 🇨🇦, twolights, appeared out of nowhere, stationary and moving slowly, descended below treeline
.17 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cqreh8/very_bright_in_the_light_polluted_sky/ video, nighttime sky, single object blackwhite, low over rooftop, rockford Illinois, contemporaneous report, possible speed change, seems to maybe decelerate a couple times., very bright observed
.18 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cr6105/possible_uap/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, possible jumpy movement, speed change, seemed to really pick up speed then slow. , during northern lights, Eau Claire Michigan
.19 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cr3ioe/capturing_the_light/ photos, nighttime sky, single light object moving, near water, lake Michigan , irregular shape, elongated, worm 🪱, haze,
.20 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1crboq1/ufo_sighting_honolulu_pt1/ video, daytime cloudy sky, fleet, at home, urban area, kakaako neighborhood of Honolulu Hawaii, contemporaneous report, one large orb and several smaller orbs all floating in a formation. , smaller objects accompany it, flying in formation, disappeared into clouds https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1crbzky/ufo_sighting_honolulu_pt2/ more video
.21 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1crbj6x/summoning_ufos/ discussion of human initiated contact
.22 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cqu4hw/saw_two_translucent_tailed_orbs_in_the_sky/ sighting description, has anyone seen?, nighttime, contemporaneous report, northern lights, duration 10 seconds, twolights, moving fast, trail, flying in formation, see through head with a long skinny white tail that left a trail of glowy light as they moved. One of them stopped moving, turned around then waited up for the other as it trailed behind and when it caught up they kinda just disappeared., northern Washington state near Canada 🇨🇦
.23 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1crdy05/51024_sw_wa/ video, nighttime sky, northern lights, single light object moving, at home, backyard, witness followed it, electronic effects camera battery died, possible speed change, possible trajectory change, disappeared behind rooftops, southwest Washington state, similar sightings same area and day in comments, [GOODPOST]
.24 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cremtj/my_great_uncle_told_me_about_a_crash_retrieval/ sighting description, family story, crash retrieval, military, Salar de Uyuni desert Bolivia 🇧🇴 , USA military response, He described the ship to have flickering lights of several colors and saw the Americans retrieving some pieces from that ship, alongside some organic material that looked like deceased beings
.25 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1crgxgt/3_lights_in_sky/ photos, nighttime cloudy sky, threelights, during northern lights, not seen by eye, Columbia South Carolina
.26 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1crk806/orb_over_lake_while_watching_the_aurora_lights_in/ video, nighttime sky, over water, Elbow Lake Michigan, during northern lights, three witnesses, single light object, hexagon shape with a circular light in the center. https://old.reddit.com/useDry-Ant3194/comments/1crwmun/screenshots_of_orb_over_lake_2nd_photo_shadow_was/ screenshots , multicolored, haze, cloud of all the colors dancing around it., duration 2 minutes
.27 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1crkaw4/some_advice_plz/ sighting description, two witnesses, nighttime, from car, Bourbon County Kansas, single light object stationary, low over treeline, reaction to being observed, approach, flareup, light shining in car, directly in front, went from a fixed position in the trees to nearly in front of my truck while at the same time focusing what I can only describe as the brightest light I'd ever experienced at night before. , jumpy movement, missing time
.28 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1crjw5j/extremely_bright_light_flying_towards_my_plane/ sighting description, from airplane, single light object, approach, over water Atlantic Ocean, daytime cloudy sky, light shining in airplane, physical effects paralysis, As I first saw the light my first reaction was that I froze for a few seconds in confusion. , interaction with airplane, flew overhead, witness looked away and looked back, vanished, duration 10-12 seconds,
.29 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1crh1go/recreating_something_i_saw_when_i_was_young/ childhood sighting description and reference image, at home, nighttime, witness woke up, threelights, barbell shape, outside window, stationary, duration 10 minutes, audio description loud buzzing., emotion of fear, witness left the area, new Hampshire
.30 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cr8ir4/seen_in_cornwall_uk/ photo, nighttime sky, cloud anomaly, disappeared, possible single object blackwhite, possible camera artifact, not seen by eye, at home, Cornwall the UK 🇬🇧
.31 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1crusrv/seeing_strange_things_while_recording_the_arora/ video, nighttime sky, fleet observed, multiple objects, one following another, LOTS of strange glowing round things. They would appear for 20-30 seconds and float across just a small area, and then they would disappear., each duration 20-30 seconds, Chattanooga Tennessee
.32 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1crzbcg/i_need_help_to_try_to_understand_what_i_saw/ sighting description, Sao Paulo Brazil 🇧🇷, nighttime sky, single light object, blinking, stationary, duration 10-15 minutes, The light would turn off and on in a regular interval (around 13 seconds)., repeat visitor, contemporaneous report
.33 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1cr8t6q/am_i_seeing_things_round_2/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, doughnut 🍩 shaped, moving straight
.34 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1crmukh/speaking_owls/ childhood sighting description, sister of OP, at home, nighttime, outside bedroom window, entity, owl, communication, repeat visitor, family history, her eldest son (who was around 7-8 at the time) woke the house up screaming. He was terrified and shaking and she asked him what happened and he told her an owl came and spoke to him “in his head.” , telepathy, emotion of fear
.35 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1crhdyo/my_cousin_and_i_charged_a_shadow_figure_when_we/ childhood experience description, three witnesses, entity, shadow figure, combat, My cousin and I looked back at each other and my cousin just screamed at me “LETS GET HIM!”. Before I could say anything my cousin just bolts at this guy, and I ran right behind him., witness followed it, it was not running fast at all, the way it ran looked super weird, its kind of hard to explain, its limbs moved like a human, but it looked like it was running in slow motion. Its head was slightly tilted back as it was jogging, almost as if it was looking up at the sky. , looked away and looked back, vanished
.36 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1crlbtp/what_do_you_think_of_this_experience_visitation/ experience description, at home, nighttime, inside bedroom, witness woke up, audio description high frequency sound in the room, almost like when something electrical is plugged in and you can just hear it. A neon sign kind of. , approach, very loud, It stops, and I start to hear this rustling coming from behind me, I think, “What the fuck IS that??”, wtf_is_that, communication, I get a flash of a sentence through my head that doesn’t feel like a thought from me but a message from someone else: “Don’t be scared.”
.37 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1crnkz7/cool_dream_about_ufos_in_a_hanga dream description, UFO's being shown to a group of people, it was in a very large hangar, the alien body was probably about 7ft that was lying down and the craft was tiny, maybe the size of a small table., the craft would expand towards the 3 pilots to become much larger, using their minds to do this, it would then mold to their forms to enable a space to pilot it, the material was almost like a moving graphete.
.38 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1crfo0y/did_i_see_a_ufo_anyone_got_a_logical_explanation/ sighting description and reference image, circular shape, at home, nighttime cloudy sky, spinning, The patterns/shapes/geometrics that made up the circle were ones I had never seen before, The Circle was spinning non stop and it was like the outside of the circle would collapse into the centre and then it would come out again to full size, has anyone seen?
.39 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1crs234/was_trying_to_get_a_photo_of_the_northern_lights/ photo, nighttime sky, during northern lights, urban area, Glasgow Scotland the UK 🇬🇧, not seen by eye, fleet or single object multiple lights, green 🟢, hoax
.40 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cqx075/3_lights_in_the_sky/ photo, nighttime cloudy sky, threelights, red and green 🔴🟢, low over treeline, camping, outback Australia 🇦🇺 , zigzag movements or wavy trajectory, moving from side to side going at some speed but as I took that photo they disappeared., reaction to being filmed, vanishing
.41 https://old.reddit.com/Glitch_in_the_Matrix/comments/1cs2rhi/lost_time_in_western_mass/ experience description, missing time, two witnesses, from car, the McDonalds in Hadley Massachusetts, there’s quite some fog. But that area has fog from time to time. And all the cars except for ours in the lot were gone too, automobile anomaly, old early 2000s suv pulled into the lot with zero noise. No engine sound, I didn’t noticed the light until it pulled over to my right front spot. It kinda seemed it just slide in with no friction or anything. , location anomaly, we somehow got into the lot across the street,,didn’t seem to take longer than half an hour., more than 3 hours just passed.
.42 https://old.reddit.com/astrophotography/comments/1crz21q/an_unknown_red_circles/ photo, nighttime sky, two objects, anomalous to witness, red 🔴, near water, Black Sea, 30 second long exposure
.43 reference ISS https://old.reddit.com/astrophotography/comments/1cru96d/iss/ photo, nighttime sky, international space station
.44 https://old.reddit.com/Glitch_in_the_Matrix/comments/1cro1y6/we_lost_about_4_hours_of_time_in_30_seconds/ experience description, around the Northampton - Luton area the UK 🇬🇧, from car, four witnesses, camping, went through a tunnel, 4 hours had passed in 30 seconds,
.45 https://old.reddit.com/BackwoodsCreepy/comments/1crldxd/sound_from_woods_in_pnw/ audio description, at home, outside, near water, hottub, backyard, pacific northwest, high pitched, smooth who sound. Almost like someone was singing the word “who”. But with a very elongated “ooo” noise. , brief duration 2-3 seconds, physical effects paralysis and goosebumps, repeat visitor, made two passes, has anyone seen?, similar experiences in comments
.46 https://old.reddit.com/BackwoodsCreepy/comments/1crky49/more_in_depth_story_from_northern_alaska/ experience description, northern Alaska, multiple witnesses, nighttime, at home, felt observed, In the willows stood 4-6 small people. They looked like anyone else in the village, but they wore clothes made of skins rather than newer materials brought in. Their eyes glowed and one bared its teeth. Thinking about this just freaks me out., in comments: The navy on Guam has a problem with the little people entering the navy magazine where they store a huge amount of ammo. The marine guards would see them constantly., entities
.47 https://old.reddit.com/StrangeEarth/comments/1crdvlz/petrified_and_floating_out_of_window/ experience description, at home, nighttime, witness woke up, light shining in bedroom window, physical effects paralysis, witness was pulled, I floated out of my bed and towards the bright light in the window and shortly after I have no memory., event amnesia, emotion of fear, eyes teared up, it is the most terrifying feeling I have ever experienced. I’m crying just thinking about it., similar experience in comments
.48 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cs7jje/fast_moving_ufo_seen_in_north_vancouver_051024/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, single light object moving and stationary, jumpy movement, possible trail, North Vancouver British Columbia Canada 🇨🇦, duration 14 seconds, moving erratically observed, during northern lights , OP comments downvoted
.49 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1csc0o6/ufo_spotted_on_flight_to_newark_nj/ sighting description and video, nighttime cloudy sky, from airplane, contemporaneous report, over water Atlantic Ocean, single light object stationary and moving, subsequent threelights, Another light appeared right next to it and was glowing a bit brighter. A third light appeared from the right and went towards to the other two on the left. At this point the second light that randomly appeared on the left disappeared, the other two dimmed a bit and disappeared as well after another minute., dimming, vanishing,
.50 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1css11t/odd_floating_object/ photos and video, daytime cloudy sky, contemporaneous report, single light object stationary, Bozeman Montana, duration 30 minutes, weather balloon? looks like a balloon with a nautilus style tail, white in the sun and gray with low cloud cover., weird shit, multiple witnesses
.51 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1csui87/what_is_this_object_suspended_in_air_above_poland/ video, daytime cloudy sky, single light object, elongated, trail, vertical orientation, contrails type, contemporaneous report, Szczecin Poland 🇵🇱, stationary, duration a couple minutes, low over treeline, downvoted to zero
.52 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cs6rj4/ufo_experience/ childhood sighting description, nighttime, at home, single light object moving and stationary, emitting orbs, Travelling at a slow and smooth pace. Until suddenly it stopped in position and ten seconds later two orbs shot out (or three) and darted across the sky like bees. , emotional reaction awe and wondor
.53 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1csu1ex/saw_something_in_my_apartment/ sighting description, at home, entity, inside home, audio description chain jingling and a buzzing sound., I turn around and am immediately faced with what I'm going to describe as a gray, leaning around the corner with one three fingered hand touching the wall. It looks....insubstantial. Like it's made of smoke or fog., Southern Appalachia
.54 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1csmf1w/strange_message/ experience description, no craft, at home, nighttime, communication, "kaptia kapta kesta", has anyone seen?
.55 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1crpnrw/third_man_facto experience description, remote viewing, training
.56 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1csxiay/was_wondering_if_anyone_had_a_logical_explanation/ video, nighttime sky, single dim object, diffuse, low over rooftop, contemporaneous report, Rhondda Cynon Taff South Wales the UK 🇬🇧 , two witnesses, witness followed it, duration 30 minutes
.57 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1csyfuv/honestly_dont_know_what_to_say/ video, nighttime sky, single light object moving, blackwhite, multicolored, two witnesses, contemporaneous report, subsequent threelights flying in equilateral triangle formation, [GOODPOST], emotion of fear, witness left the area, Ireland 🇮🇪 , physical effects vibration
.58 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1csyob2/purchased_a_flir_unit_online_and_had_an_interest/ sighting, OP is not the witness, witness is a pilot, black triangle 🔺️, from airplane , removed by mods, similar sighting in comments: All Black triangle, no lights, no sound, super low and almost floating (given how slow it flew over). It must have been landing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cszn08/i_purchased_a_flir_unit_online_and_had_an/ reposted , similar sightings in comments, [GOODPOST]
.59 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ctd4qs/new_jersey_ufo/ video, daytime cloudy sky, new jersey, twolights, two dark objects, moving slowly, bird for comparison, metallic sphere observed
.60 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ctb72t/strange_train_line_in_brazil_and_argentina/ video, from home security camera, single light object, elongated, Rio de Janeiro Brazil 🇧🇷, link to similar sightings in comments
.61 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ct569h/unidentified_object_next_to_us_apache_helicopte photo, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, at home, helicopter for comparison, single dark object, manta shape, bird?, downvoted to zero
.62 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ct5imq/ufo_sighting_when_i_was_a_kid_with_witnesses/ childhood sighting description, multiple witnesses, at home, nighttime, trampoline, British Columbia Canada 🇨🇦, fleet, wavy trajectory, red 🔴, Three or four maybe five red lights, orbs, circles, moving like a snake across the sky but then dissappear., vanishing, repeat visitor observed, other witnesses said it came back later.
.63 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1ct62su/help_i_think_i_saw_some_aliens/ sighting description, three entities, at home, nighttime, animal reaction dogs barking, 3 little blurry things came out of the trees and then suddenly became viewable. There was 3 aliens that were as tall as oompa loompas. They were skinny so skinny almost like walking sticks with a square shaped figure. They had binocular shaped eye ridge and they had yellow eyes that were sunken in and looked slanted., emotion of fear, witness left the area, trying to run but i fell on the ground they stared at me, and did a dance. , dancing, physical effects eyes teared up,
.64 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1csw5nx/fast_ufo_over_federal_hill/ photo, daytime sky, plane for comparison, single light object, federal hill new jersey, similar sighting with video in comments,
.65 reference Sirius https://old.reddit.com/astrophotography/comments/1ct9qvx/photographed_sirius_again_3rd_time_i_think/ photo, nighttime sky, the star Sirius, single light object
.66 https://old.reddit.com/StrangeEarth/comments/1ct3nhz/looking_for_possible_answers_on_what_this_light/ video, nighttime sky, from home security camera, single light object stationary, low below treeline, appearing and vanishing,
.67 https://old.reddit.com/astrophotography/comments/1csgkde/weird_artifact/ photo, nighttime sky, anomalous to witness, single light object moving fast
.68 https://old.reddit.com/RBI/comments/1cs74p5/what_are_these_stains_on_my_pillowcase_quarte photo of pillowcase, anomalous bloodstains, at home
.69 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ctijey/what_is_in_our_sky/ photo, nighttime cloudy sky, cloud anomaly, contemporaneous report, These "clouds" formed and moved opposite other clouds,
.70 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ctlrfive_literally_just_spotted_this_spherical/ video, daytime cloudy sky, contemporaneous report, single dark object, elongated, possible manta shape or metapod, disappeared into clouds, sphere observed, kent the UK 🇬🇧, 51° 16' 47.9964'' N, angled from the horizon , repeat visitors , video shows electronic effects camera glitching or jumpy movement , moving straight, dead weight just travelling farther and farther as though travelling into space. , downvoted to zero in 1 hour, OP comments downvoted
.71 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ct5cdy/bright_orb_crossed_the_whole_sky_in_lancaster_ca/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, multicolored, orange 🟠 observed, near USAF, Edwards air force base, Southern California, three witnesses, during northern lights, very bright, completely silent and weirdly multi-colored / orange orb showed up to the far west over Lancaster and steadily moved eastward, over Edwards and disappeared over the eastern horizon.,
.72 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ctpjk8/what_is_this_object/ video, daytime cloudy sky, single light object, diffuse, low over water, Central Finland 🇫🇮, yellowish, diffuse, moving slowly, looking around, [GOODPOST]
.73 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1ctnntx/i_just_saw_a_uap_for_the_first_time_now_what/ sighting description, daytime, contemporaneous report, fleet, circling each other, weaving, 9 white small dots all irregularly circling around each other at high speeds. The group moved from one end of the sky to the other in the space of about 5 minutes., plane for comparison observed, interaction with airplane, flew over plane, They appeared above the plane and to slow down when the plane passed., speed change, three witnesses, apathy in other witness, polarized sunglasses., possibly metallic, possible haze, urban area, Denver Colorado
.74 https://old.reddit.com/Skydentify/comments/1ctl6au/photo_from_my_hotel_room_in_denver_facing_west/ photo, nighttime sky, single light object, irregular shape, diffuse, angular, orange 🟠, contemporaneous report, no info from OP, urban area, Denver Colorado
.75 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ctqx3k/strange_object_spotted_over_mod_base_raf/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, moving slowly and erratically, started flying around in different directions. , contemporaneous report, near air force base, the UK 🇬🇧, at home
.76 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ctz4s640_res_thermal_uap/ video and drawing, nighttime cloudy sky, through thermal camera, repeat visitor, plane for comparison, contemporaneous report, Southern new jersey, previous sighting description single object elongated, oval-shaped, horizontal orientation, The bottom half of the oval had 3-4 circular heat signatures. It was about 2x bigger then the plane at 3:04 and maybe 2x closer. It was moving slowly., video shows single light object moving fast, moving straight observed https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cuohxo/plasma_like_uap_on_thermal_monocula same OP, different event, twolights, two witnesses, elongated, V-shaped formation, merging, nighttime cloudy sky, contemporaneous report, Blue Anchor New Jersey, OP comments downvoted, big debunker energy
.77 these were all removed, i guess https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cu67kc/the_vatican_supernatural_phenomenon_summary/ news, Vatican guidelines for supernatural events https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cu8xsc/newsnation_reporting_on_the_vatican_and_ufos/ more coverage https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cu983a/vaticans_new_classifications_of_phenomena/ categories of events https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cu67kc/the_vatican_supernatural_phenomenon_summary/ summary, guidance on how the Church should approach and discern supernatural phenomena, like visions and apparitions.
.78 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cua35x/interesting_lights_in_the_sky_near_san_jose_51424/ photos, near San Jose California, nighttime, not seen by eye, single light object moving, trail, haze, shape change, near water, Calaveras Reservoir
.79 https://old.reddit.com/RBI/comments/1cu4k43/vivid_memory_of_the_sky_exploding_help_me_figure/ childhood sighting description, two witnesses, at home, backyard, daytime, single light object, directly in front, massive ball of flames dead center in the sky. It looked like a big plane had exploded but it was very slowly still moving across the sky. , There were reds, oranges, and very bright yellows 🔴🟠🟡 coming from it, haze. And it was HUGE, like, the size of my palm but in the sky. , emotion of fear, witness left the area, audio description huge booming exploding sound, physical effects vibration, I can feel the sound wave hitting us., Southern Florida, Columbia space shuttle?
.80 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cu64ri/my_girlfriend_saw_a_ring_of_flashing_lights_in/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, fleet, circular formation, diffuse, spotlights type, low over rooftop, urban area, Kuala Lampur Malaysia 🇲🇾, downvoted to zero
.81 https://old.reddit.com/RBI/comments/1cucswq/strange_shuny_spheres_in_the_sky/ childhood sighting description, Canada 🇨🇦, daytime, multiple witnesses, fleet, blackwhite, approach, flew overhead, multiple objects grouped and floating together. They looks like perfect metal spheres about the size of beach balls. , metallic sphere, flying in formation, duration a few minutes
.82 https://old.reddit.com/signalidentification/comments/1cuay5a/144_mhz_weird_mirrored_signal/ signal anomaly, possible twolights
.83 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cue2zz/you_want_disclosure_come_to_brazil/ how-to, self disclosure, Brazil 🇧🇷
.84 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cueec7/think_i_just_had_my_first_ufo_sighting_today/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, daytime, twolights, I noticed in the sky a metal object, then I noticed one behind it, a few meters apart. silent, witness looked away and looked back, vanished, England the UK 🇬🇧, duration 3-4 minutes., cylindrical shape
.85 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cug426/can_anyone_explain_what_this_is/ video, nighttime sky, threelights, close line formation, horizontal orientation, horizontal trajectory, moving fast, low over treeline, from car, powerlines,
.86 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cuhrz9/i_took_this_video_of_ufos_in_the_night_sky_above/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, through infrared scope, near windmills, fleet, diffuse, moving fast and slowly, trajectory change, U-turn, circling, moving and stationary, spotlights type, at home, outside bedroom window, triangle formation,
.87 https://old.reddit.com/space/comments/1cuhsz7/stranger_told_me_knowing_what_is_on_top_of_saturn/ experience description, contemporaneous report, mysterious stranger, the planet Saturn, he asked me "do you know what is there?" I replied "no". He told me to look up "Saturn from the top view" and said that it's going to open my eyes and change my life.
.88 https://old.reddit.com/BackwoodsCreepy/comments/1cufrqh/encounter_with_a_black_wolf_creature_in_the/ dream description, repeat visitor, entity, Tennessee, Around the age of 12 or 13, I started having recurring dreams set in the forest, a place I frequently visited. In these dreams, I encountered a large black wolf with glowing red eyes., During my final dream involving the wolf, a woman's voice accompanied it. I recall her saying, "Do not fear the wolf." As the wolf circled me, I didn't feel fear but rather a deep sense of respect for its ancient power.
.89 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cuf2co/my_experience_with_nhi/ experience description, had a bout of psychosis that involved/was caused by extended contact with a "non-human intelligence." Left me deeply traumatized and harmed but in a better place in my life than where I started. Don't fuck around and find out.
.90 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cui6zs/satellite_or_ufo/ video, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, Qatar 🇶🇦, single light object moving, stars for comparison, trajectory change observed
.91 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cuwnbs/how_many_have_had_the_dream/ childhood dream description, at home, nighttime, eyes outside window, Puerto Rico 🇵🇷 , similar dreams in comments, entity, [GOODPOST]
.92 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cuwxug/ufo_or_is_this_just_a_plane_or_satellite/ video, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, two witnesses, single light object moving, Gladwyne Pennsylvania near Philadelphia,
.93 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cukdcm/ufo_from_joshua_tree_national_park_522024/ video, nighttime sky, Joshua Tree National Park California, multiple witnesses, camping, single light object, plane for comparison, haze, When the cloudy aura dissipated a bit you could see had just two bright white lights from two ends of it., twolights, vanishing, possible departure upward, rocket launch? , silent
.94 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cunh7l/what_sightingevent_opened_your_mind_to_the/ discussion of sightings
.95 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cuqag5/guys_help_me_identify_this_thing_what_the_heck_is/ video, daytime cloudy sky, contemporaneous report, urban area, Los Angeles California, single dark object, elongated, worm 🪱, irregular shape, single flash, downvoted to zero, OP comments downvoted, V-shaped, shape change
.96 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cuxx9l/help_i_think_i_saw_a_ufo/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, nighttime, at home, light shining in bedroom window, single light object, approach, golden, flew over the witness home, emotion of fear, Southern Ontario Canada 🇨🇦, emotional reaction feeling shook, ongoing, I've been having a lot of strange experiences lately.
.97 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cupc7a/ufo_orb_light/ video, daytime sky, single dim object, low over treeline, disappeared behind treeline, moving slowly and fast, possible reaction to being filmed, speed change, Was floating for about 2 min before I started filming. Moved fairly quickly, disappeared behind tree line., duration two minutes, at home, backyard, possible military response helicopter , event amnesia
.98 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cut2f2/strange_sighting_in_netherlands/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, single light object moving, wavy trajectory, vanishing and reappearing or jumpy movement, two witnesses, silent, possible military response jets, After 5 minutes or saw we saw a plane fly in the same direction. Which was followed by another plane and third one which made a u-turn after a flashing light appeared in the direction the light flew in., nighttime, the Netherlands 🇳🇱
.99 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cuvet2/second_moon_uap_in_virginia/ video, nighttime sky, single light object stationary, multicolored, low over treeline, repeat visitor, Virginia, over water, river where the Tye and James river meet, He said that it disappeared for a month or so (he stopped seeing it in the morning) and now it’s back!
.100 https://old.reddit.com/RBI/comments/1cux9gabout_45_years_ago_i_saw_a_black_figure_looking/ sighting description, entity, at home, outside window, animal reaction dog noticed it, black figure the the shape of a person's head looking through the window at me., witness looked away and looked back, vanished
.101 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cv2esis_this_a_ufo/ video, nighttime sky, hard to see, repeat visitor, Victoria British Columbia Canada 🇨🇦 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1ct988m/what_the_hell_is_this/ previous day, video, nighttime cloudy sky, single light object moving erratically, jumpy movement, trail, North Vancouver British Columbia Canada 🇨🇦
.102 https://old.reddit.com/UF0/comments/1cv0xjf/please_telll_me_what_this_is/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, urban area, threelights, triangle formation, low over rooftop, silent, there were a lot of planes going by. wayyyyyy more than usual., at home, similar sighting in comments
.103 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cv7yko/another_shitty_phone_video/ video, daytime cloudy sky, powerlines, single light object, Yucaipa California, first noticed from car, witness stopped the car and got out, reaction to being filmed, ascending, departure,
.104 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cv8xxb/2007_ufo_sighting_in_sf/ sighting description and reference image, family story, 1967 Albany New York state, at home, multiple witnesses, over the witness home, very large, it was huge and covered her house and part of the street., stationary and moving, sudden departure
.105 https://old.reddit.com/Glitch_in_the_Matrix/comments/1cv9qub/the_sky_went_marine_blue_and_looked_like_it_was/ sighting description, no craft, contemporaneous report, nighttime, single flash, blue 🔵, illuminating surroundings, darkness bright as day, the sky went totally bright like it was day. It had a marine blue tint to it and I could see the whole city. , brief duration 1 second, subsequent audio description huge bang sound in the distance,
.106 https://old.reddit.com/AnomalousEvidence/comments/1cv97u8/i_wanted_to_share_with_you_all_a_bit_of/ information, how to evaluate orb reports, [GOODPOST]
.107 https://old.reddit.com/UFObelievers/comments/1cv7hky/ufo_supercharged_my_powerbank_to_151_a_yea sighting, electronic effects camera battery died, but my PowerBank has been stuck at 151% since last year.
.108 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cvfe77/plasma_orb_created_with_electricity_and_a/ video, nighttime sky, from home security camera, single light object, downvoted to zero, OP comments downvoted, backyard, single light object moving erratically, microufo, low below rooftop, I checked my camera after hearing something jiggle my back storm door., reaction to being flashed with light, moving away, the orb kind of runs away fro

So before anyone comes in saying I’m dumb, I think DAMN is the most well rounded album that Kendrick has in his collection.

1. Section 80 was great, but sadly gets overshadowed by GKMC and TPAB. It also is Kendrick clearly growing still so he wasn’t fully honed in like he was on his later albums. To me it’s the prologue to GKMC.
   
2. Good Kid, M.A.A.D, phenomenal album to me it’s extremely close to being Kendrick best, he describes life in Compton in a new generation, he tells an amazing story that perfectly follows each track, it’s a very coherent album with a very clear direction. And almost every single song goes well in any rotation. I can go on forever with this album but will save that for another day.
   
3. To pump a butterfly, beautiful, introspective, inspiring this album impacted the culture, rap/hiphop, and Kendrick’s talent amongst congress earning his Pulitzer. The accolades for this album can’t get enough praise however when listening to Kendricks albums I think as an artist what can help be the most relatable to your audience? I’m not black so while emotional I cannot 100% relate to the struggles Kendrick and his community go through especially during a very important time of BLM really picking up. It’s heavy handed use of Jazz and social/societal critiques makes this album important and an instant classic but once again not Kendrick’s best simply because he had to alienate a race to show the aggression, hate and suffering they suffered from everyone else, very quick way to isolate the mainstream audience from the die hard fans. Especially since a lot of his mainstream fans are white this album can create a slight disconnect on it’s message especially during the songs where Kendrick says how much he hates whites or how how badly they want him dead.
   
4. Mr Morale and the big steppers, this is personally my favorite album by Kendrick because of how well he strips his flaws to the point that he’s saying he’s no savior or good person. This to me is Kendrick really growing up and moving onto the next chapter of his life. While not an exit from rap it’s a beautiful side note to show Kendrick as a person will and has grown for his family. Like damn I think this album will age really well especially with how this beef with drake is turning out.
   
5. Lastly DAMN…and DAMN what an album, this album to me is Kendrick’s best album for the sole purpose of it being the most mainstream for all fans, new comers and die hards. It’s very well rounded, healthy mix of features, the story is very small yet impactful if things went differently. You hear this album and can’t help but say DAMN by the end. The energy in every single song could be in rotation opposed to say The blacker the berry or even sing about me dying. Every serious song in DAMN has a hypnotic pacing in its subtle beats when Kendrick monologues,or when he absolutely goes off. This album whole may not a classic like TPAB but has aged incredibly well, and is a perfect medium between all the other albums that came before, just enough introspection to keep you engaged, good beats, songs, light on the social commentary opposed to the others, and overall just to me Kendrick having fun after the serious toll he had to bear after creating TPAB. This album is a charcuterie board of everything that everyone has come to love and expect from Kendrick.
   

This is it for me, I really enjoyed this and specifically listened to these albums just to post here, feel free to disagree or chime in I really would love to see how yall feel about it! Kendrick is solidified in rap and US history, his presence will go nowhere . IMO he became what pac wanted to be but could never do it with the paranoia of losing his life and a coast to coast beef taking over his mind. Kendrick really has taken up the torch and has proudly shown his roots and skill for the west coast! Love my 🐐 also I’m not white I’m Hispanic so please dont take my critique of TPAB as malicious towards the black community that’s all, PEACE!

Well here's a post where I'm almost inviting everyone to roast me for free, but it's reddit so I don't care. These are my negative opinions are whatever champions I have in this game (as of patch 5.1). I'll try to avoid problems due to 'damage creep' but due to 'design/game experience' problems. I would actually love if someone could share some insights that could change my opinions on any of these champions. Or you could be that angry redditor in the comments screaming away at me willing to die on a hill for your champion. Eithers fine.
You'll notice there's a general theme of "uninteractive", "there is no counterplay in XYZ scenario", and "effort-reward ratio" which equals to "This is not fucking fun to play against"
Tryndamere: Rework his ult. It's design is one of the most braindead and toxic things to deal with ever. It's not actually that bad in-game as I'm describing it because most champions have some gap closecc, it's just from the receiving end experiencing it I don't think anyone will describe it as 'it felt fun'. His ult design is basically a "I'm going to die, so let me try and turn on you for 5s and try to kill you." And since he takes ghost and flash, it either plays out as after a series of extremely good trades and well plays on your end, he suddenly turns on you and kills you, OR he plays extremely badly and gets a free get-out-of-jail card and runs away. Yes he still loses a massive amount of gold to the turret, but the universal response to dealing with a champion in this game is KILLING them, and tryndamere is the only champion that violates that. It's a really toxic and cheap design for an ult.
Singed: His entire playstyle is about avoiding interaction and wasting everyone's time as much as possible. It's just not conducive to the game design based on how the rest of the champions was designed; based on INTERACTION.
Sett: I can't say anything bad about sett I just strongly dislike how stupidly high his low his skill floor to impact ratio is. The most newbie player can just run at any tank, press ult, E, W and win his team the entire fight. Again, I'm not saying he doesn't require skill. He's actually a very hard champ to get good at. It's only that the worst players can pick him up and impact the game way bigger than they should be ever able to at their skill level.
Camille: Not a negative opinion but my own perference. Undo her rework, like, all the way to on-release. I stopped playing her because I enjoyed her difficult kit but she got oversimplified. Basically her old kit Q used to require re-tapping the ability to reactive, W only had bonus applied on the outer half instead of the entire cone (and I think no healing or no slow? I can't remember), and E had no cd refund and atkspd buff if you missed hookshot.
Yone: Please just delete this champion from this game. This guy for me is just riot's golden boy for the 200years meme. I don't care if his numbers were actually balanced, it's everything IN his kit that is just overloaded beyond saving. Hybrid damage, true damage, max health dmg, on demand shield, double crit, 2 abilties reduced by atkspd, 2 knockups, 3 gap closers, AOE on 3 abilties, zed's ult on a basic ability. He's also known for missing everything and still killing you because even if he misses his E and Ult, he can just gap close with 3rdQ and wail on you with Q and W for the same threat damage. Like wth?
Yasuo: I'm a yasuo main but even I won't defend his windwall. I think the rest of his kit is fine (especially since he has only 2 main damaging abilities, one gated behind a condition, and not 4 unlike yone which require 0 setup), but just something about his W being able to block entire ultimates and affect EVERY SINGLE ranged champion on the enemy team for FOUR seconds is just not right. Like there's just no counterplay. They don't even get to play the game. He definintely needs some sort of ranged peel since he is a melee adc but his windwall needs to be reworked in some way
Teemo: If you're a melee champion who has to deal with his camouflage lasting indefinitely in lane, it is some of the most degenerate playstyle I've ever experienced. There's just no counter to it. Every 25s, he just goes invis, blinds you, shts on you for 3 seconds, then dashes and runs away. This is if you're melee because you can't hide under tower and cs.
Lux: Undo her rework. Braindead as all hell. Too effective for how braindead she is, it's mindblowing. But her skin sells right
Kayn: His damage. It doesn't even matter what form you choose anymore. Well not that it did since his red form got buffed like 8 months ago
Evelynn: In soloQ, where you get punished for your team's mistakes, if you ever had to deal with a fed evelynn while you're playing adc....i think i would rather ff then have to put up with it. Especially when she reaches the point where she doesn't even need charm to kill you. Oh right, and if she takes electrocute she can do it lvl5 so she doesn't even need to be fed.
Yi: Draft diff. SoloQ. No CC = Depression. Like sometimes you first pick/second pick and then your team screws you over in champ select by not picking any CC even though the jungler blindpicks master yi. Like what do you do? Also has some really cheesy and cringe strats where the enemies can just turbo buff him with lulu/yuumi/shen and it is just SO turbo cringe to play against if your team has no HARD CC. Soft CC doesn't work (slows) . It must be exlcusively on-demand fast stuns, roots, taunts, etc. Not something like urgot's E beause it's too slow.
Ziggs: It's mostly about the laning experience for his opponents. Most uninteractive and degenerate playstyle I've experienced. You just sit 10 miles back, avoid any interaction, and lob bombs at the enemy. The only saving grace is that he is designed to be really punishable in-game by having a really low early mana pool so you can zone him away from minions. Oh and it you play any assassins you can give him ptsd. I know he's an artillery mage but it's just how low his interaction is in his intended gameplay design that really gets me...
Syndra: Same thing it's the laning experience for her opponents. Don't get me wrong, she has some really bad matchups. But, I'm talking if you play a short ranged champion, it's Ziggs 2.0 but worse. Except now you can't hide behind minions because her Q is a point and click, baiting it is almost pointless since you'll have to deal with it AGAIN in another 7s, she has a non-punishable mana pool so it doesn't matter if she spams every ability, which she does, and spams QE on cooldown to poke then stun you for free with no counterplay, and for all that she scales into an oppressive late game champion for free. Like, for how safe her laning is she doesn't get punished like Asol or Vlad AT ALL. Even if she misses, she doesn't get punished because she's 10yards back. If she misses her orb on E, the knockback is far and long enough that she can walk away perfectly fine. And if both hits, she ults you, procs electrocute, and kills you for free. The worst part is that with electrocute her ult damage early is actually significant enough that even you play any assassin you can't run at her and kill her for free unless you are at full health, which you will never be if you lane against her. Like, I think at least ziggs is fine since the counterplay is at worst you hide behind minions and stay even, but with syndra most of her abilties are point and click so if that specific case what do you do?
Zoe: Degenerate playstyle. She's actually decently hard to play given how easy she gets one shot by everyone in this meta but it's the fact she can 100-0 you from 2 screens away on cooldown. Maybe I just hate artillery mages.
Jayce: This might a wildrift damage problem thing and nothing to do with his kit, but his damage....just everything about his damage is wrong. The fact that he can unironically one shot you at level5 with just boots, has a gap closer and a disengage, and that he is allowed to spam his stupid AOE shockblast (so he doesn't even need to aim) that deals 100000damage on cooldown is just not right... He's basically a one-shot melee assassin but also gets to play ranged and spam his 10000million damage shockblock for free. Oh right, but he has a negative winrate because new players find him too difficult so they keep buffing him...
Samira: It's wildrush reset on takedown. You know how everyone hates katarina? Well her ult is a katarina ult that is MOVING. Meaning that you can be punished for your teammates mistakes which were not even your fault because she can now dash towards you. Imagine your frontliner just wanders in by himself, dies, and suddenly now samira flash ults into your face and wipes your team for your dumb teammate's mistake. She's really punishable into CC but drafting is something that no one does in soloQ. and if you just happen to play into a game where your team has no CC on boy does it feel so bad...
Tristanna: Too safe, scales for free. You know how people consider xayah an amazing soloQ champion because of her self peel? Yeah, tristanna ult may not be as good but he actually has 2. So unless you actually one shot him he's fine. And he scales even harder.
Pyke: The idea of a carry support is just fundementally wrong. Supports are not meant to carry because they are gold starved. So if you design a support to carry you better bet his kit is overloaded as all hell. And for pyke that's mainly that his ult resets. I hate reset champions. Just the threat that one ult can execute the entire enemy team below a certain threshold and MORE than DOUBLE the gold value is just not right.
Soraka: Undo her rework. Braindead healing bot.
Sona: I don't like her ult rework. It's just no fun to play against in teamfights because her ult has no counterplay. It's an on-demand AOE stun that remains in a zone for 3.5s. It's like TF's stun card but for everyone. It's like naut's ult but except instead of a delay it's instant. Instead of targetting just a single person it's an entire massive zone that basically forces you to face check it because it's so god damn big it ACTUALLY takes more time to walk around it than to get stunned for 1s. Your team could play around avoiding a teamwide AOE stun, but SOMEONE still has facecheck sona eventually to get her to use her ult. And when that happens there is NO counterplay to whoever's on the frontline (or whatever class they are most times not being an actual tank) getting separated from his entire team for 3.5s which might as well be a death sentence.
Yuumi: Delete this champion. Or here's a suggestion from vars that I agree with: Make her cost an inventory slot on her allies when attached, and nerf her hp into oblivion because she should NOT be allowed to be an actual champion for negating what every single other champion in the game has to deal with: POSITIONING To any yuumi mains, I apologize for what I'm about to say. Like, if you want to make a braindead champion that is lowkey meant for gfs to pickup to play with their bfs, fine, I have no problem with that. But don't make the champion as OP and effective as it is for how brainless you need to be to play her. She should be at A tier, max. Not S/Broken for I don't even know how many updates straight. The fact that like 2 of the top15 last season were yuumi only mains that were clearly riding off duoQ with their adc who probably actually sweated to get to challenger really bugs me.

Discord/Reddit Name: Sol.re
Discord/Reddit Name: Sol.re u/SoltheBaneful
Name and House: Mace Blacktyde
Age: 32
Cultural Group: First Men (Westerosi)
Appearance: Standing at a solid 6'2" with the robust, broad-shouldered build characteristic of a man at sea. His physique, while muscular and powerful, has the beginnings of a slight paunch developing around his midsection. His hair is shoulder-length, oily, and black, hanging in thick, greasy strands that resemble seaweed. His skin is weathered and tanned from years at sea, and his dark eyes are deep-set, often reflecting a cold, calculating glint when focused, and a faraway stare when not.
Trait: Reaver
Skill(s): Axes, Footwork, Brute, First Man Warrior, Tactician
Talent(s): Cooking, Sketching, Fishing
Negative Trait: N/A
Starting Title(s): N/A
Starting Location: Opening Event
Alternate Characters: Red Denys

Biography

Mace Blacktyde was born into House Blacktyde, a once-proud lineage among the Ironborn, renowned for their seafaring prowess and fierce loyalty to the Drowned God. He grew up amidst the salty winds and crashing waves of the Iron Islands, surrounded by tales of conquest and glory. But told from the eaves of old, broken men. The dragonfire stole what true pride any Ironborn could fetter up from their abysmal depths. From a young age, Mace showed promise as a warrior, displaying a natural talent for swordplay and a keen mind for strategy. A promising yet hollow future for anyone born in the Islands during their sequestering. While many fled the Islands, he and his family remained. However, his life took a drastic turn when the Westerlands launched brutal assaults on the Iron Islands. House Blacktyde, like many others, suffered greatly. Mace, then in his late teens, witnessed his house's fortunes plummet from lofty heights of wealth and power to the depths of destitution and despair. The once formidable coffers and vaults of Castle Blacktyde were emptied, leaving behind a hollow shell of its former self. At the culmination of this dark hour; he drowned.
This period of upheaval and loss left an indelible mark on Mace's psyche. It ignited a fire within him—a fierce determination to reclaim what was lost and restore honor to his house. Empowered by his youth, Mace's resilience and resourcefulness became apparent as he navigated the chaos of total upheaval. Like many, his eyes focused on distant Essos. Once he could recover what ships and able bodies; and willing souls that the Drowned God had not yet claimed - he set out to reave. It was during these perilous journeys that Mace truly came into his own. He honed his skills as a captain and fighter, earning a fearsome reputation among both friend and foe. Each successful raid brought back spoils, wealth, and knowledge of distant lands and cultures. This ignition of such fervency drove him deeper into the mythos of his religion, his culture. He took a salt wife of a bested adversary. Then drowned again.
However, his newfound success did nothing for the man as an individual, Mace's heart remained tied to Blacktyde. With each return to his homeland, he brought with him treasures and stories of his exploits, with the hope to reignite the flames of prosperity of a bygone age. His efforts, ultimately, were met with greed and dissatisfaction. House Blacktyd's leadership, the main branch. Though not many they still possessed the maxim of what little social power that an Iron Islander could possess after what the West did to them; and of course they craved more. The stories of old, provoked within them the so-called Old Ways. And by that; Mace suffered. This time he would not drown. When met with conflict of greed, as unsustainable as it was, he took his wife and now child away from Blacktyde. Away from his home. Away from his identity.
A year passed on the water, independent, sailing, from port and jetty. A hard year. That is when he found the Blue Sails, and people who were at least familiar to him, welcoming to his kind. Though he is rough to fit in, he understands that this way means life, while the old way only lead to death.

Timeline

8 BC - Born

2 AC - Dragonfire & Ruin of the Iron Islands
Sometime before 7 AC - Westerlands Incursion, First Drowning
7 AC - Gather Allies & Sail for Essos
10 AC - Essosi Reaving, Second Drowning
16 AC - Salt Marriage to Red Denys
19 AC - Return to Castle Blacktyde & Unrest
20 AC - Alannys is born
21 AC : Exile till encounter Blue Sails
25 AC: Present day, with the Blue Sails

Supporting Characters

Auxiliary Character

Name and House: Red Denys
Age:33
Cultural Group: Essosi (Lyseni)
Appearance: Red Denys is an arresting figure, standing at a lithe and agile 5'9". Her skin has the alabaster tone typical of Lyseni, contrasting sharply with her shoulder-length, fiery red hair, which cascades in loose waves. Her eyes are a striking shade of emerald green, often described as piercing and unwavering. Denys also bears a faint scar across her left cheek, a testament to her countless duels and battles
Trait: Champion
Skill(s): Daggers, Dual Wielding , Essosi Blademaster,
Talent(s): Singing, Dancing,
Negative Trait: N/A
Starting Title(s): Red Denys of Lys

Archetyped/Notable NPCS

Leng (37) - Crewmate Mace met early in his time reaving. Once rivals, now fast allies. Leng lends his expertise with people and markets periodically. Trader Archetype
Yohn Pike (30) - Crewmate that has been with Mace the longest. Yohn pledged his sword to Mace's crew wherever that might be. He is proficient with the Longsword. Warrior Archetype

I have an established place in my campaign that serves as a middle point for the party to rest and RP on their way from X to Y place. All it is is a wide open field with a large pond to the Southwest that is actually a groundswell from an underground river pushing up to the surface, that pond then feeds as a creek to an actual river that leads the ocean. Thus far in my campaign this has been a safe place for the players to hunker down. This is likely the last time my party will go through this area so I'd like it to be a memorable combat encounter.
The idea here is that I will have them Crest the hill that leads to this little valley where the pond is, I describe it as I normally have in the past but with the exception of a fairly good looking man standing in that pond fishing and singing softly to himself. See "O Brother, where art thou?"
Party starts interacting with him, he hits them with...https://youtu.be/ul-61r7DMz4?si=PCHxXKG8eWcdQ-ib
Roll vs charmed.
My question here is what are some critters that I can pair with this male siren that would be context appropriate to pump up the CR for this encounter. My party is level nine and from what I understand a siren is only a CR 6. Perhaps some kind of dog? Murder of Crows?
Once the party kills him they'll find that he's drowned quite a few people in this pond and their bodies are just beneath the surface. Gold and trinkets to be found. Nature checks will obviously yield that the creature walked from the coast up the line of the river to this pond to find new prey.
What do you think?

Maurice Tani: Americana & Blues Noir - Saturday, June 15, 2024 at The Sound Room, Oakland
A poet with a guitar and smokin’ hot band!! Maurice is in his own lane. Known for his wry/rye-to-romantic songwriting, agile guitar style and expressive singing, Tani's particular flavor of music is a broad spectrum tincture of influences to cure what ails you. While rooted (at times distantly) in country music, his writing is centered on an urban-western perspective. Perhaps he is best described as Blues Noir - Short musical narratives of life on the left coast; A sort of cinema for the blind.
The term Renaissance man could and should be applied to Maurice Tani. A certified jack of all trades in the San Francisco music scene for over forty years, Tani has extensive experience in the recording industry as singer, songwriter, guitarist, bassist, and producer. Recent alt-country/roots music releases with his band 77 El Deora, have garnered him a local following for both his records and live performances. Tani is right at home where the blues relaxes into Americana, and can sing jazz better than most who claim they do.
Maurice Tani is a self-confessed urban dweller, who sticks to what he knows, bringing the cosmopolitan feel of San Francisco, and all it entails, into his music. His voice possesses a confidence suited for enjoyable listening, his songs are melodic glimpses into a world of make believe that is painfully true. A natural writer with a musical soul. All About Jazz
Tickets - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/896384990637?aff=oddtdtcreator

Preface: I'm not a doctor, I'm not a speech therapist, and this is not medical advice. This is just what I've done to overcome my MTD and my opinions.
MTD is a name given to a large number of conditions. The architecture of our vocal instrument is very complex though, and "muscle tension" is not only a very uninformative diagnosis, but even a misdirecting one. I say this because:

• Most people don't actually know how muscles work, and will create an incorrect mental model of what's going on, which adds tension to tension.
• It encourages a view of our muscles and vocal instrument as an "external object" that is "misbehaving" and that "we need to correct and control", which, needless to say, adds more tension to tension.

I got my MTD after a single singing session in which I screamed in complete disregard of the vocal hygiene principles that I learned over two years of studies. The day after I had all the typical MTD symptoms, but I thought it was just a temporary loss of voice, like it happened before. Then one week went by. Then another. Then I tried with absolute silence, then I tried with lozenges, herbs, ibuprofen. Then I went to and ENT doctor and got a laryngoscopy, which came out clean, and got referred to a speech therapist.
The speech therapist gave me exercises and tips, she told me to talk with a confidential voice, she instructed me to keep a correct posture, she instructed me to always use abdominal breathing. She was meaning well, but all this had the effect of adding tension to my tension.
Months went by with no progress. I could speak, but not more than one day at a time. If I spoke one day, my voice would feel destroyed the day after. Speaking would become painful and effortful. Several days of silence would get my voice back almost to a normal state, but a single day of speaking would ruin all the work I'd done.
I was fortunate enough however, that all this happened after I left my job to focus on music (the irony), and so at some point I decided to find a way myself, focus entirely on my voice and get rid of this problem once for all.
My MTD lasted about 6 months. After I practiced what I'm describing in this post it subsided over the span of about 3 weeks.
I want to share my findings with you, but keep in mind that

1. I am not a doctor, I'm only sharing my experience. What you do with this is only your responsibility. If you have any doubts please consult with your doctor first.

2. MTD is actually many things, what worked for me doesn't necessarily work for you, and it may even be deetrimental.
First, some general principles I followed 1. Don't interfere with your voice outside of your exercises. Don't try to speak the right way. Leave that voice alone. 2. Only unintentional progress is real progress. I don't care about progress that is actually a result of breaking the first rule. So you can finally stop worrying about your voice when you are not exercising. 3. Progress comes after sleep, not while you practice
When you practice things will get frustrating. Your brain registers that frustration and builds new connections while you sleep. Frustration and lack of progress while you practice are a good thing, it means that you are successfully building the input that will be processed while you sleep. Give it two nights of sleep, and results will come.
Ok, so here's what I've done. It's a simple three phases plan where we keep adding stuff:
1. Fix your breathing:
This is the basis. You've heard that before, but if I ask you to do abdominal breathing I'd be asking you to do something intentionally, which breaks principle 1. The other component of the basis is a relaxed attitude, which is a difficult thing to have when you feel betrayed by your body. We need to kill these two birds with a single massive stone.
What follows is a slightly modified version of the zazen meditation technique. I'm aware it can sound boring, but this is really important and I think it's necessary to practice this every day until recovery, without exceptions. Really.
Set a timer for 25 minutes, sit comfortably, close your eyes, and let your body breathe. While you breathe, identify the point at the centre of your body, about 4 inches below your navel. I want you to notice the sensation of breathing in that point. Don't try to change your breath, just notice any sensations there. If there aren't any, just stay vigilant, 'cause there will be.
Keep paying attention to that point, and start counting the breaths 1 to 10. When you get to 10 restart from one. If you lose the count, just restart from one. If you start thinking about dinner and lose contact with the centre of your body, just bring it back into your attention field. Every time you lose attention and bring it back, your mind relaxes a bit. The more you do it, the more your attention naturally settles on the sensation of breathing at the centre of your body.
Don't try to force your attention to stay there. Let it be and bring it back only if you notice it wanders. Also, don't focus super hard, that wouldn't be relaxing at all! Chill and let your attention rest there.
Thoughts will occur. That's ok, in fact, thoughts are part of the process. Let them happen, but keep the sensations at the centre of your body in your field of attention. When you notice that you lost attention, the thought stream will naturally interrupt and your attention will go back to your centre. There is no need for you to forcefully interrupt your thought stream. It'll happen by itself when you remember about your centre.
You may feel deeply relaxed, which is great, just try not to fall asleep.
If you do this consistently, you'll be breathing diaphragmatically without even noticing, which we agreed counts as real progress.
2. Rewiring
After about one week practicing the previous step (which you must keep doing), I started humming whenever I felt tension building up around my neck, which was normally just after I spoke two sentences. I know it's counterintuitive, but it made sense for me. What we are trying to do here is breaking the association voice emission -> tension, and create a new one voice emission -> relaxation. After all, we all know that our vocal chords are perfectly fine, and those sweet vibrations have a relaxing effect on our muscles. They have it even if you experience MTD, we just don't notice it because the tension created by our condition is greater than that relaxing stimulus.
So now when you feel that tension building up do the following:

• Check your upper chest: if it's contracted, let it relax
• Bring your attention to the point below the navel, just like you've practiced every day.
• Hum at a very low volume, in a similar fashion as humming in yoga practice. Try to identify that relaxation stimulus in your body. Pay attention to the positive sensations. Hum slowly, feel your body relaxing and your breath naturally centering itself lower in your body.
• Bonus: play with the resonance of that hum and check if your pleasant sensations change.

If some relaxation comes, great, if it doesn't, that's still fine! Don't get frustrated, remember that progress comes after sleep anyway.
3. Trigger relaxation. After about a week practicing the previous step (which you must keep doing) I started working actively on muscle relaxation. The basic idea here is to trigger a chain reaction. All our muscles are connected. As we all learned, unfortunately, one muscle becoming tense leads to all the muscles around becoming tense too. Well, the opposite is also true.
Because we can interact with our tongue much more easily than with other internal muscles, we'll use that to trigger the chain reaction. Follow the instructions on this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OorqNloxITM do it al least twice a day (in the morning and before you go to sleep) and every time you feel you need it. Pay especial attention to step where you let the tongue relax while pulling it.
From now on, stop trying to control your voice or to speak confidentially, or whatever you are doing in fear of hurting yourself. Now it's the time to let all the work express some results, so don't interfere. Do whatever comes naturally. If you naturally want to speak softly do that, if not, don't.
Keep practicing all the three steps for a few weeks and only then check whether this is working for you or not. Unless you feel you are getting hurt by this, abstain from judgement until then, otherwise you'll pay too much attention to your voice and interfere with the process.
I really hope this works for you as well as it did for me. Once again, I'm nobody, I'm not a doctor, I'm not a speech therapist, I just wanted to share this in case it's helpful to somebody, but what you do with your voice is your responsibility.

So to clarify 1 I am British so my terms my confuse people. 2. This happened in summer 2021 and also a heatwave. 3. names are changed for GDPR purposes.
I use to work in a care home for MJ a beautiful lady in her 30's with physical and learning disability also blind with fragile bones (which is important later). MJ a little petty and finds being naughty or cheeky hilarious.
We were out on a girly shopping trip for new wardrobe as MJ had drastically gained a lot of weight during over 18 months due to physio and hydro being cancelled due to covid and building work. Due to her needs her wheelchair is a little longer and bulkier than the average and her right leg support is straight out as she cant bend it . (also important for later), Also I have to explain what's going on every few minute so MJ knows what's going on and MJ doesn't always know if she's involved in conversations so this is also explained.
After a lovely brunch is a department store we headed down in lift. To resume the shopping. This is when the incident occurred. due to the size of her wheelchair she takes up a good portion of the lift so I have no room to move, can only wheel in and reverse out. As the lift lowered I could hear children approx. 5 -9 in age and guessing 4 in total. The doors took there sweet time to open.
When they did I quietly swore because the store had a massive redesign during the lock down and what was once a nice clear area around the lift was now a narrow area surrounded by a sofa and display stands leaving me a very tight turning space. I then realised the children I heard where using this narrow space to play It/tag and were not 4 was about 6 to 8.
I called out to them to Excuse me let us through please. No answer from children and no parent telling them to move . Children still running. MJ is already in giggles as she has worked out things are not going to the plan.
I am now aware that the lift doors will shut again soon so reverse out a little to make sure the safety sensors keep doors open. Also hoping this means the children's adult might notice me better and control the little chaos.
I hoped to much and they got louder so I got LOUDER. I shouted You need to move now your in my way. MJ is now in tears because she thinks I'm shouting at her and is asking why. So I whisper to her to not worry its just some naughty children blocking our way out and I might need to yell at them again and she calms down.
This is when the boy who I think was the oldest replied "where not taking up that much space just walk around us." So waved him closer and he came over I explained the problem. " You see these handles I'm holding on to" he nodded "this means its not just me I need space to turn MJ around, so please give us that space and sit on sofa". His reply "my mummy got through okay with my sister is our pram so you get your baby through too". MJ has decided to join in by singing, "I'm not a baby, your a baby, move naughty naughty baby" . I then spot the mummy and wave my arms in the biggest motions possible to get her attention. But apparently the lacy bra she has in her hand holds all her brain power.
So I shout again. "I'm going to count to 4 and if you kids are not out of my way that's your problem not mine anymore". 1, still kid chaos, 2 , 3, nothing 3 and a half, FOUR !. So I reverse in one quick motion. I'm amazed that I didn't hit walk in to anyone. I take a moment to asses the best route to go and yes the children are still running around. but I no longer care. So I choose go to the section on the left and to do that I have to turn slightly right step backwards line up the wheelchair then go foreword. And the smallest child chose that very moment to run out right in to MJ's right leg support. MJ starts laughing at me for being a bad driver think I hit a display with her leg. I whisper to her what's happened and she laughs more, shrugs and winks at me "oops you told them". Children run over to see there crying sibling and one runs off to tell mum about the mean lady. I check the little girl over (I'm first aid trained and she risked more harm to MJ then her) and went to shop. That's when mum finally appeared and yelled at me "Watch where your going, you Spazzie Retard you hit my kid."
So In the UK these are about the worst words you can use to describe a disabled person. I took the worlds biggest breath and willed my professional BS filter to sensor my inner rage. But MJ had my back. " I can't watch where I'm going I'm blind and she had to parent your kids because you were too busy, she meant to help me shop not babysit kids , good bye B\*ch". I smiled sweetly trying not to laugh and we left her shouting about court . A staff member came over to see if we okay and I explained the situation and they go kicked out of the store of endangering customers.*
After reporting this story to the manager she laughed (unofficially told me served the woman right) and told me to record it for policy just in case she memorised the logo on my badge .But I did not get into trouble. No one was harmed apart from a possible bruise on the child's leg.

What’s in the closet, Kirsty?
He knew I hid a secret.
I smiled, tried to look confused.
He waited, crossing his arms.
I worried that he'd already seen. He had.
What else could he think about the pile?
His wife’s a cheater. She has another life. Another husband. Children.
He’d never believe the truth: I’m not a cheater; there’s no other life; no other man; I don’t know who the children are who visit me at night.
But I did have a secret. And maybe it’s fair to say another life, even if was smaller and against my will.
I should have destroyed those frames, burned the photos within. Now it looked like I saved them, cherished them. The truth couldn’t be farther. I feared to touch anything to do with… whatever they are…with one exception.
“It started last Halloween,” I said to George, my husband, my real husband.
He stopped packing for a moment, working out the impossibility of this statement. “I’m taking the girls to my parents.” He resumed the tossing of shirts, pants, etc. into our big suitcase.
“It’s true,” I said, but weakly. The children in the picture are at least six and four respectively. They were born six months ago.
“They’re not… my kids,” I said of the boys in the photos. They’re not kids is what I almost said.
George stopped and squeezed the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger. “Kirsty,” he said slowly, “there are baby pictures. I saw them.”
“That’s-”
He quickly raised his finger, exasperated, angry, done.
“The first picture is you holding a newborn, and…” He swallowed painfully, his throat gone dry. It always does when he’s upset. “And the father in that picture, with his arm around you, isn’t me.”
When I couldn't deny it, he nodded like he knew all along our marriage would end.
We were happy. We really were. George and I had managed to overcome the typical breakdown that often comes with raising children. Only since last Halloween had distance been made by me.
I should have told him as soon as it started.
“Girls!” he called as I followed him down the stairs to the front hall of our lovely home. We’d scrimped and sacrificed to buy and keep this place, our dream by the lake. He’d been so proud. I couldn’t tell him I wanted to leave the first night sleeping there.
Cara and Ella protested through play, ignoring the adults, continuing to jump on an old box they’d long since flattened. Rays from the western sun placed my daughters into an inspired, hallowed light, and I started to cry. He was going to take my babies away.
George opened the door, intending, I’m sure, to drop the suitcase in the car before returning to physically carry the girls out.
But he hesitated in the doorway.
“George?”
The suitcase fell with a solid thud on the floor. “There’s no way,” he said.
“What?”
“There’s no way,” he said, with emphasis on the last word, “you would have had time for…this…”
Not defining "this" as cheating was progress. “Yes!”
He glared, quieting my desperate enthusiasm. I wasn’t off the hook. “Tell me. The truth.”
“I can’t.”
He reached for the suitcase.
“No, not because I don’t want to,” I protested. “I don’t know what’s happening!” I sat on the carpeted steps and stared through blurred vision at my trembling hands. The shriek I’d filled the house with - “happening!” - had put a halt to the box's obliteration. Cara and Ella hesitated for a few seconds before leaping into action.
Cara, the oldest, six, punched her dad in the buttocks. “You have to be nice!”
Ella, four, sat beside me and patted my trembling hands. “It’s okay, mummy.”
Such lovely daughters. Nothing like the boys in those photos when they were this age.
George grasped Cara's wrists and gently walked her back into the house, using his foot to kick the suitcase from the swing of the front door.
"It's alright, girls," he said with weak resolve. "Go and play."
"No!" Cara shouted. She kicked at her father and he pulled her close into a bearhug. Gradually, the girls calmed and were convinced to return to the box in the front room.
"Kirsty," George said, "you have to tell me." He sat down on the step beside me. "Please." I would do anything to take away the hurt in his eyes. "Please."
"I can't. But… I can write it down. Maybe." I took out my phone. We shared Google Drive. When I made a new document, he reluctantly started his phone. The man was a dream. He watched his screen, and waited patiently for my words to appear.
Without preamble, I returned to the awful moment when it all began: a strange and disturbing dream. Words came like an infection from beneath a torn scab. The wound had been opened. Nothing could stop this now.
Sex with another man has never been a desire of mine. I love George. He loves me.
Plus, the man in my dream was a stranger, and not particularly handsome. He has a plain face set to unwavering boredom and unkempt male pattern baldness. Our dream sex felt obligatory, just something we had to do.
I awoke on the wrong side of midnight. November 1st and I was craving ice cream instead of the girls' gathered candy. The freezer left by the previous homeowners came with unopened ice cream. Freezer burned or not, I wanted some.
After retrieving a spoon from the kitchen, I intended to destroy a brick of neopolitan. He waited in his flannel pajamas, barefoot on the concrete floor. His arms were crossed.
"Cravings?" he said.
I dropped the spoon. It clattered down the basement steps. Before I could run away, he disappeared like someone had erased him from head to foot in one clean sweep.
Had to be a dream. That's what I told myself. The spoon stayed in the basement until daylight. Ghost or nightmare, there was laundry to do the next day.
I crossed the concrete floor fast and only felt safer when I'd closed the door to the more modern laundry room. Never thought builder's grade tiles and track lights would make me feel anything but sad.
His voice caught me sorting.
"Kirsty!"
I dropped the cup of detergent all over the floor.
"Shit."
I came out of the laundry room, figuring George had been looking for me in uncharacteristically rude fashion. He hated speaking between rooms. Shouting throughout the house was highly impolite. It must have been important, I figured.
As soon as I stepped onto the bare concrete, however, deep sadness, the kind that seems to physically leech the strength from your body, dominated the room.
"Hello?" I don't know why I said that. The basement is a low ceilinged rectangle. There are no hiding spots except for the laundry room I'd come from. After a deep breath, I walked briskly to the stairs.
"Any day now," a raspy voice breathed into my ear. I jolted and slipped forward, falling and clipping my chin off a step. It made my teeth click painfully. Nobody there, of course. I ran upstairs and George had gone outside with the girls to play hide and seek.
I wanted to tell him. He looked so happy. It's hard to convey in words the kind of smile he showed me through the window. Imagine contentment mixed with unreserved joy and hope. Yes, it's difficult to picture. So few of us can ever have such a moment. Sort of like finding a natural view completely untouched by humanity. Beyond rare and precious.
I’m rambling now to avoid writing about what followed. The point is I couldn’t tell him. I hoped it’d go away and stop.
But, of course, it didn’t, and things got much worse.
I awoke in a great deal of pain. Having already given birth to children, the feeling was familiar. Despite getting up and gasping, George continued to snore in our bed. He’s a deep sleeper, but a quick and early riser. I’ve never heard him complain about getting out of bed either, especially when there’s an emergency.
I might have woken him up but I was disoriented and confused. Part of me believed I was still pregnant with Ella. It wasn’t until I’d gone all the way to the kitchen to avoid waking up the girls, that my brain caught up: Girls. Plural. Ella was asleep in her bed upstairs.
“Ohhhhhhhh shiiiiiiiiiiit.” I knew the signs of labour. This couldn’t be happening. “Ohhhhhhhhh.”
I was definitely going to wake everyone up if this continued.
My phone was upstairs by my bedside table. We don’t have a landline. I should have called 911. I should have woken up George.
Instead, I went downstairs where I could vocalize pain without disturbing anyone. Such a pathetically passive response. But that’s how I was raised. Keep it down, don't you frown.
His hands seized mine as soon as I descended the last step. Serious and bald without dignity is how to best describe his physical appearance. Cold and cruel is what he is. The lights turned off and, in the perfect darkness of the basement, he was all that I could see.
He produces a red light from his body somehow but his touch is literally frosty.
"Kristy, it's time," he said. No joy there. Just straight facts. Something was coming. I was going to give birth to it. In the dull red glow of his being, the first boy came.
"His name is Hadad," the man said, placing a large, infant boy with a lot of hair and, I swear, a hint of beard, on the bare concrete. Hadad looked like a three month old they use as newborns on TV. He didn't cry. He hardly seemed to breathe as his dark eyes roamed the darkness. His light resembled the man's, a less intense red.
I felt another contraction, and winced.
"She comes next," the man said.
I felt so weak. "Who are you?" I asked him.
At last, he smiled and I wished he hadn't. It made me feel small, insignificant, and beneath his concern. "You know who I am," he said. "I'm your husband."
Pain wracked my entire body. Something didn't feel right. The birth of Cara and Ella had been without difficulty.
"Push," my "husband" ordered. "She is upset with you, and will kill you if you don't get her out now."
"It has to be a nightmare," I told him. Sweat poured in streams down my face. The unborn "she" in question writhed and damaged my insides. I screamed. I couldn't help it.
"Push!"
I obeyed and the second boy spilled onto the bare concrete, coated in blood and dust.
"It's a boy," I said.
The man looked displeased. "The body is male. She is Hebat. No wonder she is angry." Like the other infant, Hebat appeared aware of her surroundings and had far too much motor control for a newborn. The light pouring from her body was dull silver. Her eye sockets were two pits of concentrated despair. I had to look away.
The babies were pressed into my arms.
The man stretched out beside me. "Open your eyes and smile." I resisted. "Do it. Now." What choice did I have? The flash from his cell blinded me. They were all gone by the time my sight recovered. Only the sweat remained as evidence of the ordeal.
It had to have been a hallucination. Some very bad food poisoning maybe. The source could be as simple as an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. I had been stress eating since we'd moved in. I stood up and took some comfort in a Charles Dickens' reference.
"More of gravy than of grave about you," I said. My words seemed consumed by the dreadful weight of the air. "Whatever you are."
Whatever you are: something bad in any case. At best, I'd hallucinated prolonged and traumatic labour and needed medical attention. Yet, when I limped up the basement stairs, all thoughts of waking George vanished. There on the kitchen island sat a propped frame containing the photograph taken only moments ago.
The man looked happy. Only Hadad appeared in this picture, which meant another one was somewhere. I didn't panic. I worried more about what George would think if he saw the photos. I had to find them all.
Hebat and his father and I were mounted in a dark wood frame by the master bedroom. It'd be the first thing anyone saw if they woke up. I plucked it off the wall and, together with the first photo, tucked it under some blankets in the dresser we'd shoved in the small walk-in closet.
You might not believe this, but I went straight to sleep after. I climbed under the blanket in my sweaty pajamas, shut my eyes, and didn't have enough time to deny what had happened. I was unconscious until morning.
George placed a coffee on my nightstand. That's what I remember. He rubbed my feet while I slowly awoke. The girls were watching TV downstairs, munching on apple slices. There was forty minutes still before we had to seriously consider getting ready to take Cara to school.
George would drop her off on his way to work downtown. He chose his hours and always chose convenience for his wife and kids. Ella and I planned to spend the morning gardening. Then we would nap much of the afternoon away until George and Cara returned. A life so perfect is so very rare.
I didn't want to spoil things with a very convincing nightmare. Besides, I felt fine. Not so good that I wanted to look in the dresser to see if those photos really were there, but not ill. So I remained silent again.
November started fine. Idyllic days and nights filled with laughter and joy and television. Just as I started to believe in the dream we'd made, they came again.
The wail of a child's hunger is a powerful call for a parent. When it's a chorus, even of two, it cannot be ignored. Only I awoke to Hadad and Hebat's cries for their "mother" from the basement.
Half asleep, I drifted into the kitchen and searched for their milk bottles. When no bottles could be found, I remembered they were newborns. Milk swelled in my breasts and made my nipples ache. Just like when Cara or Ella would awaken in the night. It was a relief to feed them.
But what the fuck was I doing?
I was acting like the man in the basement and the devil babies were mine. It'd been less than a week since Halloween and that horrible nightmare illusion. I had already taken on the beleaguered newborn mother role without question.
Their cries intensified and flayed the weak resistance of exhausted reasoning.
Don't wake George. Don't wake my babies, my real babies.
"What took you so long?" the man critized, his voice monotone, the question unrhetorical.
"I… was sleeping. I went to the fridge first." Under his severe gaze, I stopped in the midst of the dark room. Hadad had quieted. Hebat cooed as if laughing at her own joke. I couldn't see them because the lights were off. They liked the dark better. Somehow I knew that about them and him.
"You should sleep down here," he said. "A mother should always be close to her babies."
The statement was nonsense but not altogether wrong. I wanted to be close to my babies, the daughters sleeping in bliss upstairs, away from the evil fermentation in the basement.
"Kirsty," he said. "Are you listening?" His hand touched the small of my back. The gentleness surprised me. I squawked and flinched away. "What’s wrong with you? They're hungry." He pressed on my shoulders until I sat on the cold floor.
They came from the shadows, already walking. I wanted to go, but I knew he wouldn't allow it. He pulled my cat t-shirt off over my head and their fierce mouths suckled, relieving the pressure of excess breast milk quickly. It felt physically good and psychologically alien.
I looked down at them once and immediately regretted it. Their emanated light had intensified to a point where perception of them hurt.
Each time I blinked my eyes were drawn to some isolated part of their bodies. The vision got closer to the point of disgust. Everything is gross if you're close enough. There is no beauty under a microscope. If you think there is then you're not using the right magnification.
Hebat's eye drew me in. At first, I saw the dark sphere, and then the strands of her eyelashes. Her gravity kept pulling until the creatures that live in eyelashes were revealed: Demodex folliculorum. I looked the microscopic horrors up.
The babies had more parasites than any child should. They wanted to show me and could somehow do so.
I asked him about it. "Why are they showing me these worms?"
He smiled, contemptuously as usual. "Trying to impress mother. Neither of them understand your horror and insignificance. You are the ant who knows they're an ant. Lucky you. They think you will be proud of the life their corporeal forms produce and host. Give them a few hours. It will pass."
"Why are you doing this to me?"
"I'm not sure what you mean. We're married. Now, prepare to smile." His cell reappeared and I noted the lack of features; it might have been a singed rectangle of spent firewood. He frowned when I failed to smile. "Smile, Kirsty. These are your children."
I managed to stave off the tears and hold the babies close. The smile was more difficult. In the inevitable aftermath of their sudden disappearance, the frames depicted an exhausted, wrinkly woman smiling painfully. It took a second to recognize myself.
The things in the basement sapped my strength. I looked dehydrated, beleaguered. The scale in the bathroom said I'd dropped six pounds. I'd weighed myself the morning before.
"Whoa, you've lost weight," George noted, thinking I'd be pleased. "This place has been so good for us, eh?'
To produce another smile proved as draining as the previous night. "Y-yes," I stuttered too late for him to ignore.
"Hey," he said, touching my forearm.
I flinched.
"Whoa, you okay? What's wrong?"
I should have told him. "Nothing. Bad sleep. A nightmare. I'll be fine."
A lie is an agreement. George wanted to agree, I think. He wanted life to be fine because he was happy for once. We struggled so hard before we came to Bridal Veil Lake. It was supposed to be our dream.
Guilty if I told him the truth. Guilty because I didn't. I began to resent his happiness, though he had done nothing but be the wonderful man he'd always been.
To Cara and Ella I became a body in motion, No brain left to guide them away from harm or answer their questions about nature and the universe.
"I don't know." That's what I told them often.
So they began to treat me like a kind of butler.
"Can I have some juice, please?"
"Sure, sweetheart."
"Mommy, can I have a snack?"
"Of course." And I'd run off to fetch it.
"Cookies."
"Yes, dear."
When Christmas came, I had two and they induced the same level of joy. Visiting the basement to feed and nurture Hebat and Hadad became a nightly occurrence. I'd learned to awaken, if I could get to sleep at all, and go quietly.
He berated me severely if I missed a night, and there were subtle threats made casually.
"I may have to squash you yet," he said, his tone as deep and cold as always.
"It won't happen again," I promised. "They’re getting big." In fact, they were no longer infants. Both had grown to the approximate age of six or seven in a few months. Still, they never spoke. Their dark eyes watched me as they ate food from the kitchen upstairs, food I'd hidden from my family.
"More meat," the man demanded.
"Of course." And I ran to the freezer and gave them frozen sausages in the package. They never complained or demanded the food be prepared a different way. No objections from my "husband" either.
Hebat tore the styrofoam and plastic wrap away and flattened the row of sausages stuck together between powerful molars. Hadad contented itself with licking them like a popsicle.
I'd stay until the photo. Then they'd release me by vanishing. Always with an exhausted breath, I'd trudge up the stairs and search for the frames and hide them in the same place.
They only smiled in the pictures. At no other time did they express any kind of emotion unless indifference counts.
My own children and husband weren't doing much better. Their concerns about my fatigue and ruminating slowly ceased as I repeated the excuse: I’m just tired. It'll pass.
Of course, I did not know when the nightmare would stop.
"When will it end?" I asked him one night, while Hebat and Hadad exercised like they had a mission.
"What do you mean?" he said.
I was surprised he answered. He usually didn't. "This. This. When can I go back to normal and not come down every night? I'm so very tired."
He frowned and I thought some punishment must be coming. Instead, he looked more confused. "I don't understand. You aren't happy? Your children grow into power and strength and will take their place in the world. They will be great and you - you, of all the tiny things, made that happen. Ask yourself what you want out of life, and see if Hebat and Haddad aren't your answer."
Too many words, all at once, for an exhausted mother. I didn't speak for the rest of the night. The infernal trio vanished, and the latter moments of the ritual I carried out with his challenge in mind.
I want my children to be strong, happy, and safe.
"Juice," Cara demanded the next morning, a Saturday, while she watched cartoons.
"Get it yourself!" I hissed, from tired to angry in a second.
"But I can't," Cara accurately pointed out. She didn't look away from the TV. Looking at me wasn't safe, and she knew it. Her and Ella held hands and sat a little straighter. It broke my heart. What had I done?
George came downstairs, attracted by my shouting. "What’s going on?"
Empathy became sadness, and the constant burden rekindled to anger swiftly. "Just children treating me like a servant."
He smiled. "Ah, yes, and how are the royal princesses this morning?"
His levity irked me. "You would know if you didn't sleep in so much."
The smile vanished from his face, and instead of the fight I seemed to want, he mumbled a quiet apology and joined the girls. They climbed onto him as he wrapped them into a cuddle.
"What are we watching?" George restarted his smile, his calm, for the girls. I hated myself. It had to end. Tonight.
After another dreary day of going through the motions, and the girls and George had fallen asleep, I went to the kitchen and chose the knife I thought sharpest.
"Kirsty," he said, his voice a whisper rising from the depths of the house.
"Coming," I whispered back.
"Mom," said another voice, a girl's, and I knew that Hebat had, at last, found herself and the wholeness of her being had been corrected.
I started to cry. I went downstairs and there she was with her brother and her father. He looked tired but some of the grimness had cracked to allow the first real contentment I've ever seen him express.
"Is that for the cake?" he asked. "We already have one."
I remembered the sharp knife. "Meat," I said. "There’s ham in the freezer."
He nodded, seeming to accept the answer.
"Mom," Hebat said, "Do you think I'm…" She gestured to herself, her face, and her body, and I understood the question, born from doubt and a desire to be validated.
I pulled her close. "You are the most beautiful girl in the whole world." We cried together. Hadad cut into a poorly made, asymmetrical cake by the light of his aura. No one cared that he did so on the floor. I brought out the ham from the fridge and we ate slices with our hands.
"It's almost done," he said. "They’re nearly grown. They are strong, and they are happy. You've done a good job, Kirsty." He watched our children fight to smear icing on each other's faces. "I'm sorry if I was mean. Or cold. I've never done this before." And he meant raising children. "It was the hardest, scariest thing anyone can try. I shouldn't have blamed you for… Hebat… It wasn't your fault."
Before I could pat his hand, he and the kids vanished. Darkness so familiar couldn't extinguish a new fear. I went upstairs and found the last frame. I held my daughter in the photo, my beautiful Hebat. He must have taken the photo without my notice.
I took it upstairs but couldn't bring myself to hide it.
I didn't see that one, George wrote into the document.
I forgot he was watching.
He typed again: Are you saying there is something in the basement?
Yes, I replied.
He stirred in the living room. I hadn't moved from the stairs, but I could tell by his stomping how angry he'd become. All of his negative, violent traits he saved for those in the world who would harm his family. George the Protector was fearsome to behold.
But he had no chance against my other husband.
"Come out! Come out you coward!" George bellowed. At first, nothing happened. The moment before calamity, even when the specific consequences aren't known, is still in slow motion. He carried on shouting. The girls rushed into the hall and didn’t hesitate to investigate.
"No!" I shouted. "Cara! Ella!"
Their feet padded down the steps. A violent commotion followed, screams and raging voices, both deep and childishly shrill.
The most unsettling quiet followed.
I chewed through the fear and the horror tearing me apart and finally moved.
No evidence of violence could be seen from the top of the stairs. The concrete looked bare and dusty and the light revealed nothing more. They were gone, all of them.
"Hebat," I whispered. "Cara? George?"
Him, I thought of, the nameless husband and felt no hint of his presence. He'd always been there. I know that now. It had nothing to do with the house. His absence was felt more than his insidious presence. Yet, I felt no relief. George and the girls were gone. I sat on the floor and cried for all my missing children.
When I finally emerged from the basement, the whole house had been filled with night. Their photos were everywhere. The others were upstairs. I gathered them on the kitchen island. How could I explain any of this to the police?
I needed help. I called my parents. It took twenty minutes before my father picked up.
"Kirsty? What's wrong?"
"Dad," I whimpered. "George is gone. Cara. Ella."
"What? What did you say?"
"They’re gone, dad. George. The girls are gone."
I heard his bed springs protest as he rolled out of bed. My mom said something I couldn't hear, and he shushed her.
"Kirsty," he said, "are you alright? Are you hurt? Are you in danger?"
Why was it so hard to understand? "Dad. George is gone."
"Kirsty, who the hell is George?"
It was my turn to be confused. "He's my- you know him. My husband…"
"Kirsty," he said very slowly, "are you on drugs? Did you take something?"
"No. Are you?"
"Excuse me?"
I hung up.
I have their photos. I have all of their photos. That's what I brought to George's parents before the sun rose. They wouldn't open the door and spoke to me through an intercom.
"George is gone," I said.
"We'll call the police."
"This is your son. These are your granddaughters."
I heard my mother-in-law say, "Who is she?"
"We don't have a son," my father-in-law said. "Go away."
I left.
Back to the house. Our dream sat empty and I live there, but none of the people in my family photos are my family.
I remember but the world never does. My parents think I'm ill and that I used AI to create the family I apparently never had.
How did I buy the house without a job or income? With deep concern for my mental health, they showed me a news story. I had won the lottery the day I turned eighteen.
His influence there, payment for services rendered.
A lie is an agreement.
What had I agreed to? I'm afraid I know the answer: I never wanted a family.
God help me. God help them.
I don't know what to do with these pictures.

Hello All,
Brief summary about my current vocal status: I'm used to singing everyday, currently in a band, and started noticing some vocal trouble over a month ago during rehearsals (voice wasn't easily reaching notes and felt strained after rehearsals). After that, I went on a Vegas trip with some friends, and after attending some concerts, my voice was pretty much gone for a day or two. After I came back from the trip, decided to give some vocal rest and let it heal, but never noticed such a feeling in my throat (hard to describe but its almost like a Sore Throat, but I can feel pain on the left side of my neck). A week ago, I decided to go to the doctor to see why it hasn't healed, and I was told its probably just a cold and he wrote me down for 'Acute Pharyngitis'. I was told to reach out a week later if symptoms didn't resolve. Well its been a week later, and I went to the Dr. today because my symptoms haven't improved, my voice hurts from talking and I have not been able to sing my usual range at all (I can sing within the normal register but trying anything a bit higher is not possible).
At the Dr. today, I was prescribed Pantoprazole (Proton Pump Inhibitor) and methylPREDNISolone (steroid). The thought process behind the Pantoprazole is that acid reflux may be swelling my throat, so I will start taking that tomorrow. For the methylPREDNISolone I was told to give it a few more days, and if still no improvement, to give it a shot. I was also referred to an E.N.T to get in touch and schedule a possible appointment for a Laryngscopy if symptoms do not heal.
I'm making this post to share my symptoms and see if anyone shared something similar because I initially thought this may be related to Vocal Nodules/Polyps, but based on my symptoms now I feel like they still fall under the category of a Flu/Cold thats just lasting a while and not letting my voice heal. I'm currently trying to do vocal rest, drink lots of fluids (including tea with honey), but its difficult as I do have to talk quite a bit at work.
Symptom List: (First 2 symptoms have been going on for about 2 1/2 - 3 weeks currently)

• Vocal Fatigue (From just talking. Singing obviously aggravates it more)
• Pain in Neck (I feel pain on my left (mostly left side), and sometimes on the right side, the middle area and under the jaw sometimes as well)
• Phlegm - Started noticing green and yellow phlegm for 2 days (started 2 days ago), but that has now subsided
• Vocal Hoarseness - Interestingly, people around me do not notice my voice being hoarse when I talk, but I can feel that it is not as smooth as before, and there is some gravely quality there.

I am really hoping this isn't a vocal nodule/polyp and is related to coming off a cold, but if symptoms do not get better I'll definitely be going to the E.N.T to get a scope done and check any other causes for these symptoms.

So in the pacific section, there's an ambient song playing, I regret not getting a quick recording. But it's very familiar, like aphex twin/orb/orbital type ambient. Slow paced, best way I can describe it is a very slow sound like a woman singing a sort of vowel sound over and over for several seconds at a time, generally alternating between higher and lower. Somewhat mournful and bleak, but builds to a bit of a crescendo at the end
ALSO I'm fairly certain it was in either a space movie or a zombie movie in the last 20 years. I thought it was the empty streets scene in 28 Days Later but that hasn't come up with anything. Ring a bell to anyone? Went through a bunch of old ambient tracks from the 90s and early 2000s but couldn't find it

We celebrated our first year together. I spent 32 days in the Philippines. I absolutely love the Philippines, and I love him so much. I knew what we have is special, but I had no idea how special it would be once we met. If words could describe the happiness I feel. I am back home now, and this is even harder, but we are now working to find a way for me to go there, or for him to come here somehow. Doesn't matter where we are, but we will be together no matter what. The Philippines is filled with so many kind people. The food was so delicious. The scenery wow. I am so grateful for the gift I've been given. Never in my life have I experienced being with such a sweet, kind hearted, loving man. We are both vocalists, and we met on tiktok singing on live stream with other people, and it has been a whirlwind since the day we met. He has 2 kids who are almost grown, and I have two also who are grown as of last year. I am divorced, and he is in the last stages of his anullment after being separated for over 3 years. He worked for years abroad in the middle east saving money to get the anullment, and provide for his children. He just returned and took a final exit in December since he finally reached his goal. To be free from the mental abuse he suffered. I really pray that the divorce law passes in Phillipines for the sake of all the people who are stuck in abusive, or horrible situations with no way out due to old beliefs, and the Roman catholic church ways. So if you feel like giving up on your LDR don't do it. It could be life changing. He is the best decision I have ever made, and I truly believe God put us together that day. We needed each other, and have grown so much, and found peace in the love we share. Keep fighting for happiness no matter how hard. Love is worth it. ❤️ Good luck out there & stay strong. 💪🏻

The hook is a quote of Amy Winehouse from a call she made to Salaam. It is word for word.
Then Lupe raps about her. She's got big eyes, singing by the opera house but not inside of it but somewhere along side of it. There is a long silence. A strong vibe. Meditation, a strong guidance designed to raise eyelids. Meaning that in her performance she commands a strong silence designed to draw eyes, increase anticipation, and gain interest from passer by or whoever her audience is. And then she sings/raps something that fits todays climate, something about gang violence meeting the gangs demises and it BANGS! Meaning she pulls off a banger of a song (but also a double on gang violence and falling with a bang bang)!
That right there rings a bell cause The Cool is about gang violence leading to the gangsters demise (Michael Young History and the death of The Cool) so that means Lupe is picturing her doing what he did. He sees himself in her. Not to mention he simultaneously goes on a scheme about "eyes" in the background. "She", "her", and "I" (Lupe).
That's just the beginning, Lupe continues with this and I want to highlight one part near the middle and another part near the end.

"If you analyze, she is a one woman gala, glamorized. Just without the glamour or the gala ties."

That should be easy to understand...but I want to highlight that this suggests that Lupe is imagining her before her fame or during her rise to fame. This makes me think that the album might show a progression in her story with the first track describing the beginnings and later track showing her rise to fame and then possibly her fall.
Next, near the end he says

"Crashed at a friends flat for a week. Felt his home was a raft on a beach. Lit a fag. Took a drag. Took a tea. Read a book. Took a bath. Went to sleep."

Now, remember. Amy Winehouse is British. They call apartments "flats". A "fag" is british slang for a smoke. Lupe doesnt smoke but Amy definitely did (she did drugs too). They also like to drink tea over there. This emphasizes the fact that this is from her perspective.
I think the concept of this album is what it would be like or look like if Amy Winehouse walked the path of a rap samurai. Lupe perhaps sees himself as a rap samurai in spirit and I am guessing he is going to have her walk a path that shares similarities with the path he took. He is probably going to incorporate his battle with his record label and his battle with other rappers somehow I think, but we will have to wait until the rest of the album drops. Or maybe have his battles sit in parallel with hers (her battle with relationships and drug addiction for example).
What are your thoughts? What do you speculate after having listened to Samurai?

I am tired.
No sense in making this one complex.
I feel an invisible yet very tangible fogginess overtaking me each day.
“It takes more muscles to frown than to smile.”
Who the heck did the research on that one?
I feel like I exert every muscle in my body just to not come off as dead.
But yet I can still feel myself wasting and rotting away.
Moving one foot in front of the other feels like a marathon.
Spacing out in front of a streaming service show just feels empty.
Singing feels short of breath and dry.
My fingers slide on my keyboard, sticky with sweat.
My eyes cross and burn from staring at paper drawings.
Words in books blur together in clumps.
Sleep interrupted by nightmares or spurts of random anxiety.
My stomach is bottomless but also spins like a rollercoaster.
I am so hungry.
Is it food I’m craving or just a way to fill this void inside of me?
Is it actual hunger or just a desire to distract from nothing?
I am stuck in a cycle of wanting to lose weight but being too weak willed to cook.
And I’m also too broke to afford decent, healthy food.
So I order takeout.
Burger grease and salted fries surge me with short bursts of energy.
Like the spark of a fire lacking kindling to keep it burning.
I usually make these poems deep.
I toss in a metaphor, a connection to nature,
A thesaurus worth of adjectives and a million different words to say the same thing.
I don’t even have the energy to do that.
The fact that you’re reading this right now at all is a small miracle.
I dunno how to end this.
I guess I’ll just say it again.
I’m tired.

Hey folks! A few months ago I asked the subreddit for some beginner songs to ease me into AnCo after first experiencing Peacebone as a newcomer, which seemed so absurd and too much for me. Well, after a few months, I can finally say I am an Animal Collective fan! Even when I was weirded out in the beginning by the overstimulating nature of it, I was always intrigued by the sound and wanted to hear more. So here are my thoughts on the first album I played through, Strawberry Jam! <3
Album: Strawberry Jam

1. Peacebone: I have heard this song is about child nostalgia and memories, and this makes so much more sense now. This song was the beginning of my journey, and I absolutely love the abrupt screams and animal-like? roars throughout the song. The beginning going from absolute madness to an actual synth progression is actually so cool. While the lyrics still are not my favorite compared to other AnCo songs, I appreciate their childlike nature and fun vibe to them! MILDEW ON RICEEE! Also that ending with the peacebone is sick!

• 7/10

1. Unsolved Mysteries: Now we’re getting to some of my favorites of all time! Unsolved Memories has some of the catchiest choruses and I love when Avey’s voice gets to those high notes! AND THOSE BUBBLE NOISES TOO THOSE ARE SO COOL! I just love how catchy and bouncy it is! The voices or grunting that pan from left to right are a nice touch too. This song I feel defines Strawberry Jam, with how moist and squishy (lol idk how to describe it) it sounds, like jam. I am not too sure what this song is about, as the line about Jack the Ripper confused me a bit, but I am guessing it is just a song about him? Maybe some of you can give me some insight. The ending is absolutely bonkers as well, I love when songs just go into pure madness at the end, the synths remind me a lot of Peacebone’s beginning.

• 10/10

1. Chores: Again, such a catchy song, this album is absolutely catchy with the melodies, I am surprised it never became as big as Merriweather Post-Pavillion. I love the scratchy noises that keep popping up before Panda’s verses, and the thousand of “IF I IF I IF I’s” are so fun and upbeat. One of my favorite parts includes when it gets real slow by the half-mark, and then the drum beat starts coming in again. The fast to slow transition reminds me a lot of Daily Routine in MPP, one of my fav songs from that album that I will talk about later on. I love the harmonies (is that with Avey?) together, and they sound transcendental like you're awakening from slumber into a new life with those stellar drums. Fun lyrics!

• 9/10

1. For Reverend Green: Oh man, what an experience. This truly shows Avey’s vocal ability, with those screams. I am not usually one who is into screamo music, but the contrast with so many weird sounds and effects make it worth it. It honestly sounds like he is saying “Forever and Green”, which sounds equally cool as well. I love the slicing knife effects, and the chorus is so so so catchy with his vocalizations. It sounds like “eh eH YEAH” which I love singing along in the car! One of my favorite lyrics is “Now I think it's alright to feel inhuman”, although I am not sure what it means, but it gives me a sense of security. When I first heard this song, I was instantly hooked, the catchy chorus paired with the sick screams captivated my ears and the ending with him repeating “For Reverend Green” is so satisfying to hear!

• 9/10

1. Fireworks: The transition from For Reverend Green was so smooth! I love the vocalizations in the beginning, though, I feel like it is in the middle ground of not being weird enough and not being conventional sounding enough. That being said, the piano is very catchy, and the strange seagull? sounds are very fun! The part of “surly blood rivers” is very catchy, and I love singing along with it, it has such a fun vibe! The breakdown is very good as well after that part, but I feel it should have ended a little earlier and not repeating some verses, after that huge buildup of “surly blood rivers”. However, I can see the appeal and it is a very fun nostalgic sounding sound that sounds like I could play it during summer watching fireworks! It’s very lovely.

• 8/10

1. Number 1: After reading some posts about this song, I feel like I might be in the weird minority here, but I absolutely ADORE THIS SONG. I love the dreamy reverbed synth arpeggio, Avey’s absolutely HAUNTING vocal effects here, Panda’s angelic vocalizations in the background, the alien-like PEWWW sound, and the spooky ghost-sounding effects in one ear. I am a big fan of MGMT, and the sound effects reminded me a lot of Alien Day’s (though more upbeat) and Astro Mancy. I am also a sucker for reverbed to heck vocals, which are present here. I love lo-fi lowkey-type psychedelic songs that sound off-putting, and this song checked all those boxes and exceeded them. The lyrics are so interesting as well, with the “Now son!”, which I am guessing it about a premise revolving around a father and his son, and the issues of growing up? I feel like I could be listening to this floating in space endlessly throughout the universe, which I love!

• 10/10

1. Winter Wonderland: After #1, I appreciate another upbeat fun song! I could totally see myself jamming out to this during winter! The chorus is so CATCHY, with the “And if you don't believe in fantasy Then don't believe in fantasy Do you not believe in fantasy because it gets you down?”, that part is SO FUN!! I love the imagery of dancing on the lake, and rainbow ice, as I love when songs paint pictures and fantasy dreamscapes in a listener’s head, which is why I love Owl City so much with his dreamy songs. Overall, a short and candy-sweet song that makes you want to go on a sled and slide away!

• 9/10

1. Cuckoo Cuckoo: One of the more serious sounding songs on the record, I appreciate the more literal and real aspect of the lyrics here. I read more into it, and apparently it is about a miscarriage, which is absolutely saddening. You can hear the pain and hurt in Avey’s voice, and his vocals with “Golden Days” sound so strong. This song definitely has my favorite lyrics, such as “And I can't hold what's in my hand Don't do any good to say this isn't what I planned” and “I said please stay You can see me, don't go away”, which made me extremely emotional. I was so touched by this song, and the contrast between the absolute madness of the “cuckoo cuckoo” and the somber piano, truly craft this song together into a masterpiece. The pain and emotion that permeates this song is substantial, and the production is stellar. Gives me the same feeling from Stride Rite, another song from their “Isn’t It Now?” album that I have not yet finished yet, beautiful regardless.

• 10/10

1. Derek: A fun-sounding little closer that sounds like a child singing, with Panda’s sweet vocals. Again, the squishy noises throughout the song are a nice touch, adding to the vibe of Strawberry Jam. I am guessing this is a song about a dog dying, which is really sad. The drums that pop in through the middle bring you back to life, and I love the repetition of the verses Panda sings, and they again, are so catchy! I feel like Chores and Derek are sister songs, not only because of Panda, but because they both start off with some normal AnCo verses, then have a more upbeat revitalizing drum beat. Overall, not bad, and is a light closer to the album!

• 7/10
• Conclusion: Wow, we’re done! What a journey this album brings! I will forever cherish it as the album that was either going to stop my fascination with this band after being weirded out by Peacebone, or bring my love even more! I am glad it brought the love that was deserved, because I have more albums to review soon! So far after listening to this one first from a few months ago, I have listened to Merriweather Post-Pavillion and Sung Tongs in full! Strangely, MPP took the longest to get into at least a few songs, despite the commercial hits of that album. I think the band achieved their sound of making it sounds like strawberry jam, and the combination of synths and acoustic instruments give it that murky, electronic, and distorted vibe that I love! This by far is the most catchy album in my opinion, as every song is catchy to me, compared to MPP. I believe this would be the most accessible album if not for the screaming in a few and #1 which mightttt turn a few people off, LOL!
• Final Album Score: 9/10

Does anyone have those days where there's nothing really wrong (no *n, no headache, no upset stomach, nothing) but you just feel strange as if your bodys trying to make you believe somethings wrong then you cant stop focusing on it and believing that you feel strange?
Like sometimes on the very very rare occasions that i dont have any physical symptom that i usually have each day such as *n, indigestion, acid reflux, stomach cramps, gurgling or sensations, headaches, tiredness, discomfort after eating and needing to poop or body pains etc, i just feel so..weird? I cant describe it, its almost like an impending sense of doom that there will be something wrong and already is something wrong i dont know about or is soon to happen, like a sudden result into an illness in the middle of the night or sudden huge wave of anxiety or hard hitting symptoms.
When I feel like this, i dont want to talk to anyone, i feel uncomfortable when i do have to talk to someone and want to get away, i just want to be alone, im not hungry, im not in the mood to do any fun stuff i usually do (sing, dance, talk to friends, listen to music etc), im not interested in anything, i just am so hyperfixated and absorbed into this weird sense of something not being right in my body when im actually fine.
I feel like this right now and I have felt like this for a few hours since i got home from work which is also when all the symptoms i was dealing with throughout the day all finally went, dont get me wrong, last night i fell asleep late because i'd had a gurgly, uncomfortable stomach and what i assume was trapped wind which is pretty normal for me as I can have acid reflux, indigestion symptoms and discomfort after eating and needing to poop frequently pretty much everyday so of course the worry of what happened the night before led onto this morning but wasnt bad at all and i'd had breakfast as normal. I had a cbd gummy as i usually do before work which is always a wonder at removing any anxious feelings but i kept feeling as if i was mildly constipated and still had trapped wind even though i didnt (i usually poop in the morning and thought i needed to but didnt, this was probably the culprit for feeling that way) as i had some on and off stitches and minor discomfort/heavy feeling in my uterus area which only went when i finally went to poop which even then i wasnt desperate for like i usually am to go and was normal and only small, only to be replaced by really bad aching legs that went on until id got home and sat down for a bit.
So the aching legs was making me feel anxious and i hyperfixated on it as i was wondering what had caused it, if it really was in my legs or in my lower abdomen and worried it was linked to everything else that happened before, ate lunch that i wasnt really interested in then went upstairs to see if being by myself would make me feel better which it usually does but ive still had this impending sense that something isnt right even though ive literally been fine, TOO fine, almost as if somethings creeping up on me and is going to strike later on. Everything I felt earlier at work has seemed to have gone now and I have no symptoms that i normally do pretty much all day every day at the minute and even if i did, they are very minor, maybe its because i feel so physically fine for once which is unusual for me to feel is the reason why im worrying that i feel weird and then because im hyperfocusing on the worry that i feel weird, thats why im not really feeling any of my normal symptoms?
I'm not used to not feeling any sort of symptom and it always seems the times where I'm free of any feeling, its replaced with a dwelling sense that I feel strange that I just cant shake even though I'm fine until I finally get hit with a physical symptom to focus on, as if my bodys telling me im TOO fine and should be suspicious and on guard for any feeling, or illness, to come? It's almost like im sat here waiting for a physical symptom to strike to focus on to get rid of the impending sense of feeling strange as thats what my bodys so used to, it's scary, when you get so used to always having some kind of symptom to struggle with everyday, when you're okay for once, i hate it because i instantly worry, especially with all the feelings i dealt with earlier and last night that have suddenly gone, that this is going to end up in me suddenly being unwell.
I have had multiple days of having on and off minor ovulation type pains in my lower uterus area and my periods due in about 8 days so I am chalking a lot of symptoms ive been feeling up to that as I can feel absolutely horrendous on the lead up to my period, so far ive not been too bad but last month was absolutely awful.
Does anyone else feel like this, or at least understand where im coming from because I just feel like im going crazy right now waiting for something to happen even though im okay! 😭